Some post-election thoughts (UPDATED)

(The last post was actually written before we had started this one so lest we do not appear to be our usual gracious and magnanimous self….)

We want to congratulate President-elect Barack Obama for his victory last night. A victory of historic proportions that demonstrated, as John McCain said in his acceptance speech in late August and again, last night at his concession speech, “(Americans) never hide from history. (Americans) make history.”

And this, from B-Daddy, "Also, Obama will have the respect that comes from occupying the great office to which he has been elected. All Americans owe him this."

What... no more "Suit?" OK, fair enough.

Now some thoughts on this election:

You are going to hear quite a bit about “the end of conservatism” (we have already) and the end of the “era of Reagan” in the coming months. We will delve into this more later but just one observation to refute that: In the closing weeks of the campaign, what was Obama talking about? He was talking about taxes. Not only was the most liberal member of the Senate talking about taxes, he was talking about a “tax cut for the middle class”. Yes, there will be a tax hike for those who make over $250,000… $200,000… $150,000…? and the middle class tax cut might be hooey in reality but the fact that a person of Obama’s legislative background and political pedigree made this tax cut his closing argument speaks volumes about the “death of conservatism.”

Oh, and speaking of McCain’s speech, here is the transcript. Warm, gracious and humble. After a succession of Presidents who served in active duty during World War II, John McCain remained the best and last hope of the Vietnam War veterans to aspire to the Oval Office. We will draw no over-arching conclusions here but we don’t think its coincidence that none ever made it.
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If Senator McCain had any real shot at this thing, it would’ve had to have come back in September when he suspended campaign operations to return to D.C. to work on the imploding financial crisis… and offering an alternative to the bailout. But he didn’t. Game over.
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Ridiculous sub-headline of the day. From the print edition of USA Today:

(Obama victory) “Taps into the public’s anger over economy and war”

War….? What war?

Big Media's inability to break free of its self-cast template is almost comical.
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We pinpointed Dodger GM Al Campanis’s appearance and unfortunate remarks on Nightline back in April of 1987 (which resulted in his resignation) as that precise moment in time when the National League’s flagship franchise began its slow, grinding descent into mediocrity. So, what was that moment for the Republican Party that went from the Reagan Revolution, Newt Gringrich’s Contract with America and two Bush terms to… what we saw last night?

Off the top of our head and doing no research whatsoever, we are going with the passage and signing into law by President Bush, the $400 billion prescription drug plan as that point when the GOP jumped the shark. When it passed in January of ’04, we cursed the term “compassionate conservative” thinking the bill that was hailed as a victory for Republicans at the time was very much pyrrhic in nature (“wait, this is the type of legislation Democrats pass) but we didn’t think it would ultimately lead to this some 5 years later.

OK, we’ll be doing some more post-mortem type stuff later but this is good for now.

Pax.

(UPDATE #1): Out of respect for the man, the office he will hold and this great country of ours, Obama-bashing is out for the time being. No quarter, though for his supporters. This was hilarious and spot-on.


Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are

H/T: Jawa Report