2008- Thoughts on the day After

[admin]

What an interesting election year! I have to start with the obvious. We have our first black president! I can't say that I am surprised at having a black president, just as I would not be if we had our first woman as commander in chief. What does surprise me is that he is a Democrat. I always envisioned that the Republican party would make the history we see now, and give us both our first black and woman president. I figured we would be more likely to see a Colin Powell or Condi Rice as our first, either of which coming from the GOP. My premise is that it would take a centrist black or woman to win the white house. Boy, was I wrong!

What surprised me even more is that our new president is so far to the left. But, that is reflective of a national trend that we have been seeing over the past couple of years. In 2006 the voters sent a mandate and gave us a Dem majority in congress. As I wrote back then, the GOP deserved a good thumping, just as they did this year. The odd part, the Dem congress has done virtually nothing and has sustained lower approval ratings than our lame duck GOP president. In the past couple of years, I had hoped to see more from the Dems, but they have not delivered. That really adds to my surprise to see the country is still swinging far left.

This will make for some interesting times. Obama, Pelosi, And Reid are the top dogs in the nation now. For the first time in a long time we are solid Dem as a nation and they will now have to deliver the change that people crave. I hope that they can do better than what we have seen in past liberal eras of our nation.

In the very early nineties, we saw a liberal upswing with the election of Clinton. That was short lived as his disastrous first term sent the country try hard right for many years.

Back further there was the Carter years, again a liberal time in our nation. Double digit interest rates, high inflation , high unemployment, gas shortages, and other disaster defined that era.

And of course, there was the Johnson era. Another down time in our nation.

Lets hope the current Dems do not repeat the last liberal eras and instead push us ahead the right way.

Anyway, Congratulations to President Elect Obama. We have seen Democracy in motion, and that is always a beautiful thing. The people have spoken and given our elected leaders a mandate. Now is time to watch the show.


PS- I voted third party for President ;D

[admin]

Another very interesting note is at the Freeholder level. In another post we tried to make some predictions. It appears that Dem, Amy Mallet is the winner by a mere 18 votes. Our Freeholder race saw another squeaker! Don't ever say that your vote doesn't count! It certainly did at the Freeholder level.

[novillero]

what does "modern ethnic blended" mean? I have never heard that phrase before.

[novillero]

Did "modern ethnic blend" play any part in your decision for your vote for Obama?

What were your top 3 issues when casting your vote for Obama, and what do you expect to see in the next 4 years on those issues? (that is a good one, then in four years we can revisit your answers)

[adefonzo]

I have been mulling this over since election night...and although I will surely catch some criticism for this post...let me get this out.

First of all, as most already knew, I did not back Barack Obama...and I still have many, MANY questions about the man, his character, his political tendencies, and what type of President he will make.

All that being said, as an American who wants to see his country constantly make strides to become a better place, I wish him well and, at least for the time being, support him as our nation's leader.

Now...

As I heard someone mention on the radio last night, the media did (seemingly) an admirable job of keeping "race" out of both the primary and the general election (with one particular exception, a quote from Geraldine Ferraro back during the primaries). The candidates, and yes, specifically Barack Obama, were allowed to run on their platforms without the mention of race.

The second Barack Obama was secured as the next President of the United States, suddenly, it was all about his race. I understand the historical significance of a (half) African American being elected President (let's not forget, after all, his mother was Cherokee, English, and Irish)...but I just found it interesting to see the sudden explosion of race as an issue.

As I listened to all this talk, and I watched some of the returns (where 90% + of African Americans voted for Obama) I freely admit that I could not help but think of a quote by, arguably, the greatest African American in history, Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

In his ever famous and inspirational speech, Dr King said "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

I can't help but wonder if everyone who voted for Barack Obama voted for him based on "the content of [his] character", or if...perhaps...there were at least some who voted for him based on "the color of [his] skin". And, again, while I understand the significance of the event, and I understand that it is probably the single largest step that has ever been made by an individual in the area of "race in America"...could there be some hollowness to this victory because it may not have been won based solely on the substance of the man and his ideas and principles?

Yeah, I know...makes me sound like a racist...and there will be those who will believe me to be just that. But the fact is that I am not a racist, and I only bring up these points because I think they are viable discussion items. Perhaps someone can convince me that my train of thought is completely out of whack (preferably with thoughtful, meaningful debate on the topic, not just accusations and mean spirited words).

One other thing I have to point out after this past Tuesday's election...

To all my Democrat and Liberal friends...

You have a majority Congress, 2 years entrenched already, which has grown even stronger.

You have the Presidency of the United States in your party's control.

There are no more excuses. I don't want to hear about "We didn't realize just how bad things were left under the Bush administration"...no no no...as I said...the Democratic Congress has been in power 2 years already (despite their popularity ratings being even lower than President Bush's), there are no surprises.

Many of you have spent the last number of months chanting "YES WE CAN"

I have a new mantra for you...

"YOU HAD BETTER"

[novillero]

Nov 6, 2008 12:56:15 GMT -5 adefonzo said:

I have been mulling this over since election night...and although I will surely catch some criticism for this post...let me get this out.

First of all, as most already knew, I did not back Barack Obama...and I still have many, MANY questions about the man, his character, his political tendencies, and what type of President he will make.

All that being said, as an American who wants to see his country constantly make strides to become a better place, I wish him well and, at least for the time being, support him as our nation's leader.

Now...

As I heard someone mention on the radio last night, the media did (seemingly) an admirable job of keeping "race" out of both the primary and the general election (with one particular exception, a quote from Geraldine Ferraro back during the primaries). The candidates, and yes, specifically Barack Obama, were allowed to run on their platforms without the mention of race.

The second Barack Obama was secured as the next President of the United States, suddenly, it was all about his race. I understand the historical significance of a (half) African American being elected President (let's not forget, after all, his mother was Cherokee, English, and Irish)...but I just found it interesting to see the sudden explosion of race as an issue.

As I listened to all this talk, and I watched some of the returns (where 90% + of African Americans voted for Obama) I freely admit that I could not help but think of a quote by, arguably, the greatest African American in history, Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

In his ever famous and inspirational speech, Dr King said "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

I can't help but wonder if everyone who voted for Barack Obama voted for him based on "the content of [his] character", or if...perhaps...there were at least some who voted for him based on "the color of [his] skin". And, again, while I understand the significance of the event, and I understand that it is probably the single largest step that has ever been made by an individual in the area of "race in America"...could there be some hollowness to this victory because it may not have been won based solely on the substance of the man and his ideas and principles?

Yeah, I know...makes me sound like a racist...and there will be those who will believe me to be just that. But the fact is that I am not a racist, and I only bring up these points because I think they are viable discussion items. Perhaps someone can convince me that my train of thought is completely out of whack (preferably with thoughtful, meaningful debate on the topic, not just accusations and mean spirited words).

One other thing I have to point out after this past Tuesday's election...

To all my Democrat and Liberal friends...

You have a majority Congress, 2 years entrenched already, which has grown even stronger.

You have the Presidency of the United States in your party's control.

There are no more excuses. I don't want to hear about "We didn't realize just how bad things were left under the Bush administration"...no no no...as I said...the Democratic Congress has been in power 2 years already (despite their popularity ratings being even lower than President Bush's), there are no surprises.

Many of you have spent the last number of months chanting "YES WE CAN"

I have a new mantra for you...

"YOU HAD BETTER"

The Jersey Guys had some fun yesterday praising Obama for being the first Hawaian president, and wondering if the country is really ready for it...

Anyway, in my opinion, the best thing that will come out of this election is the positive influence that Obama will have on young blacks in this country. Hopefully, some of the attention given to rappers, gangsters and sports stars will turn to making it big in America through education.

As an aside, I remember hearing last year that Obama was not like the blacks in this country. Although he has a father from Kenya, he was not "African-American" in the American sense - which means to have slave ancestors. Obama was just "black" despite being truly African American by a more immediate heritage. Now, of course, he is the hero. And so let everyone rejoice, in the limited meaning of race relations, it is a victory for all americans. The news media need something to talk about. 24 hour news just doesn't happen, it needs to be made. So, let's talk about who Michele Obama will wear, what Palin will be doing in 2012, and impeaching Obama before he is even sworn into office.

Anyway, although during an election everyone sets their hopes on whoever the new president is, the truth is that the Congress are the ones that draft and pass legislation. So, let's pray for a Congress that will be effective in passing good laws, or for a Congress that will be bogged down by its own inefficiency so that very few laws get passed.