I try not to do too many topical posts, as most of my traffic seems to come from people looking for pictures of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or pictures of train wrecks. Topical posts quickly go from being “current” to “outdated” very quickly, especially when no one reads them right away, if ever. So, I try to do things that might be of interest no matter when someone reads them.
I will say that Hillary just conceded yesterday. I’m glad. Let’s get on with it, because I think Barack Obama is going to make John McCain look like a doddering old fool in very short order. Now, I don’t know what is going to happen with all the “special interest groups” around, also known collectively nowadays as “Swiftboaters”. I think we are going to see attempts to make Obama look like a reverse Simon Legree, an ultra scary black man who hates this country and is a secret plant of the Islamofascists. I have a feeling that, even though this tactic has been working for the Republicans since Michael Dukakis, these tactics are going to backfire, big time. They are going to end up looking like the foolish race-baiters they are. Yes, there will be some things that will be said during the campaign that will stick. However, many potentially damaging issues have already been dealt with during the primary. We can all thank the Clinton campaign for that, I suppose. Faint praise, but it is indeed a fact. I am actually looking forward to seeing a McCain/Obama debate. That is going to be rather fun, I think.
I am also rather giddy over the possibility that, not only will a Democrat be back in the White House who actually cares about the country, the Republicans might get run out of the entire election. Although I am not sure about the Dems obtaining a “veto-proof majority”, I think the Democratic party will consolidate their gains of 2006 and there will be a number of seats in both houses that change hands. Many of those will be in places that have been a virtual lock for the Republican party. I see a total repudiation of how Bushco. has run the country for the last eight years (longer, when you look back the House and Senate under Bill Clinton). I am very heartened when I read that voting patterns for a person are set for pretty much their entire life by what happens when they are just becoming eligible to vote. There are lots and lots of young people who are going for the Democratic party in a big way. This bodes well for the future.
Now, I have no illusions that the Democratic party is some glorious thing, where virtue and light rule the day. Democrats can get just as taken away by their own power and authority as can Republicans. Well, based on what has happened in the last eight years, maybe not “just as taken away”. That seems to be the modus operandii of the Republican party these days. However, Democrats are human and, as such, can lose their way. In which case, I hope there is a strong but trustworthy Republican party to act as a check against any Democratic excesses. However, this will require a very drastic change for the current Republican party. I think they need to replace pretty much all the far right crazies who hold office now, who seem to think that governing means getting everything they want while obstructing everything that the other party wants. This isn’t a game of water polo, where the goal is to score as many points as you can and kick your oppenent repeatedly in the groin. This is about governing a country for the good of all. I can’t believe how many politicians lose sight of that fact.
I suppose, cynic that I am, I am mostly cynical about reality, about human nature. I am still an idealist about how I think things ought to be.
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