First of all, I want to say that I am appalled by all of these Facebook statuses of people who are saying things like, “I’m finally proud to be an American.” That is truly sad. I’m proud to be an American every day no matter who wins an election. I’m also annoyed with everyone’s Obama related statuses in general. I don’t care whom any of you voted for. Voting is a personal decision. It is also important to put everything into perspective, because at the end of the day, it was JUST and election and things aren’t going to “change” all that much; they never have before. Politics shouldn’t define us, and if you are truly that excited about an election, I would recommend branching out and getting some other interests.
Observing this election, I have noticed some disturbing things. First of all there are several bad reasons for voting for a candidate that somehow were considered okay this time around. It is not okay to vote for or against someone based on their race, it is not okay to vote for someone because they offer, “change” and “hope,” and it’s not okay to vote for someone because “George Bush and Republicans are evil.” As a voter, it is your duty to educate yourself on the issues and make an informed choice. All of the above reasons are not reasons to vote for somebody. If you educate yourself and still want to vote for Obama, then that is fine.
Barack Obama is an iPhone. The iPhone is a great phone, but it doesn’t do anything that other phones don’t do. It simply comes in a sleek package and it has a lot of hype surrounding it. For many people, this may be the perfect phone for them, but other people buy the iPhone because it’s cool or because everyone is talking about it. They don’t really ever consider buying any other phone; they just go straight for the iPhone because they’ve heard of it. It’s not necessarily the phone they need (though it may happen to be) but they buy it because they think they’re supposed to buy it and want to be seen with it.
Fear of the uneducated mob is the exact reason the Electoral College was created, but let’s not go there today. I’m not saying Obama isn’t qualified (he is), and I’m not saying that he isn’t necessarily the best candidate for the job (he very well may be), but people need to vote for the right reasons. I’m also a big fan of divided government. I think it is very important. I didn’t like it when the Republicans had unchecked power, and I won’t like it when the Democrats have it. If you don’t understand divided government, Google or Wikipedia it. If you have never heard of divided government and aren’t well versed in the issues; you shouldn’t have voted.
Let’s also be honest about the Republicans here for a second. John McCain’s campaign just didn’t get it. And I think that goes for many Republican campaigns around the country. The current generation of Republican advisors is past its prime and is incredibly out of touch with the America outside of the GOP base and some of the Red States. Whether it’s right or wrong, Americans are sick of hearing about terrorists and nobody cares about William Ayers. We’re worn out with the terrorist talk and with 9/11 the better part of a decade in the past, we have forgotten. This may sound terrible, but it is true. The GOP needs a new talking point. It’s the campaign’s job to adapt to the conditions on the ground, and the Republicans are stuck in the past. In this age of short attention spans and endless information getting thrown at us, the Republicans failed to break through and get our attention. They certainly didn’t get my attention and I even lean GOP anyway.
Furthermore, with all the new young voters coming out, McCain’s campaign did nothing to convince them to vote Republican. Students don’t care about taxes (especially on the wealthy); they don’t pay them. Students don’t care about William Ayers; he’s probably older than their parents. They don’t want to hear about carrying on the legacy of Ronald Reagan; they weren’t alive when he was president. I can go on and on, but you get the point.
Obama ran an excellent campaign. It was on message from day one and never second-guessed itself. McCain’s campaign was all over the place. There was no coherent message through the course of the campaign and the one real argument they had traction on – Obama lacking experience – had to go away as soon as he picked Palin for veepee.
What this all means for the GOP is likely a brutal war for power between the moderates and the group currently considered the “base.” It’s going to be a conflict between old and new. Old won out this time, but if the Republicans want to survive as a viable party, it can’t do so next time. There simply aren’t enough right wing conservatives left in America to give the GOP a majority on the national level.
Anyway, congratulations to Barack Obama, and I hope the next four years are better than the last four. I could go on and on bashing McCain’s historically poor campaign, but this is long enough as it is and my fingers hurt. I’m going to go gas up my car before the prices go back up, and hopefully now that the election is over we can finally have an end to the overly dramatic Facebook statuses.
-BP
