Wednesday, November 05, 2008

The Aftermath of the American Electoral Process 2008


First Democrat President in 8 years.
Barack Obama is now president elect, with the million ramifications that brings to bear. But, I think you can take the label of racist off the majority of Americans now, and its about time.

Obama received more of the popular vote then Bush did in either election, and really, more votes then any other man in American history has earned. Think about that for a minute... he managed to unite 62,682,389 65,340,608 people to vote for him.
Mac? He showed up with less then John F. Kerry brought in, at 55,543,527 57,358,053 votes.
(Voter tallys updated 11-8-08)

I attribute this election lost to a lack of conservative energy, and rightly so. The GOP betrayed its principles, and is paying a heavy price for it.

But not too heavy.
The democrats failed to acquire a super majority in either house. Obama was elected on a centrist platform, not one of radical leftist ideology that we know he carries. But, in the first term at least, he will need to stick to the middle of the road for political reasons.

So not all is lost, but little was won.

9 comments:

Sra. Madera said...

As Rush would say, "Right on, Right on, Right on." He said he same thing this morning. Conservatism was NOT on the ballot. Whenever it is, it wins. It won in California with the marriage amendment.
I hope that you are right about how Obama will govern without a super majority, but I have no confidence in that.

inklenaomi said...

Hopefullly this a wake up call to us who keep nominating liberal leaning conservatives like Bush and McCain. Conservatives aren't for bank bail outs and stimulous package checks.

Matthew Celestine said...

I think the answer for Republicams is to be consistent and move in a liberal direction.

McCain could have effectively reached out to Hillary supporters and Hispanics, but he failed to take the opportunity to do so.

I think the victory of Obama indicates that the Republican party needs a more inclusive image.

That is the lesson that British Conservatives learned after being defeated by huge Labour majorties in 1997 and 2001.

Every Blessing in Christ

Matt

Solameanie said...

Matt,

If that is the case, then British Conservatives are no longer conservatives.

The word "conservative" means something. Principles are supposed to be non-negotiable. Why in the world would a conservative want to move in a liberal direction? They might as well join the Democrats if that's the best they can do.

I don't want to compromise with liberals. I want to defeat them. The problem Republicans have is that they try to compromise with the left too much, and they end up getting taken to the cleaners every time. They never seem to learn.

British Conservatives in recent years seem to want to out-Labour the Labour party.

Solameanie said...

This little column by Ann Coulter spells out exactly how I feel about it all.

Anonymous said...

McCain actually received 56,126,680 votes, but your point remains, Palm Boy. Conservatism was not on the ballot this time, and we conservatives will continue to make that point, and win once again through the processes at our disposal here in the States, celestial fundie. Your "news" diet will never cover the many local and state contests where conservatives won decisively here, so I can't blame you for thinking that the universe was only made for liberals.

Anonymous said...

At least all three marriage amendments on the ballot won. Conservatism was on the ballot, but nobody was willing to vote third party.

RobertDWood said...

Madera, thanks.

Inkle, I concur competely.

Matt, I disagree. The republican party has moved consistantly to the left over the past 15 years, and much to conservatives loss.

Joel, glad you could chime in. :D


BCBC, I've updated that stats after your comment. Thanks.
Matt is also of UK origins, so local elections have little relevance to him to necessitate his tracking of them.

Daniel, I pretty much voted straight libertarian with only 2 exceptions, Mac and Congressman Burgess. But there's not enough of us.

All-American Girl said...

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!

sorry so late in reading...

i have been a biiiit busy...
so i reiterate aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

you know who i voted for... :)