I try to avoid talking about politics with people because 1) most people do not share the same level of interest in it as I do, and 2) it usually just ends up pissing people off. But I want to give my brief thoughts on Obama's election. 1. I'm a conservative, and I'm not as upset as I thought I would be. I actually have fleeting moments of happiness for Obama. I mean, holy crap, how would you feel if you just won the presidency? 2. I'm happy for America that we elected our first black man to the presidency. Not so much for the historic purposes (although it is very special), but because now people may finally shut up about the first black this or that. It's always irritated me that the people who claim to be the most colorblind of us all are the first ones to point out someone's skin color when it suits their arguments. A man's skin color means nothing to me compared to what he's accomplished. 3. The complicity of the mainstream media (the publicity arm of the Obama campaign) in this election was simply stunning. If you still think the media is unbiased after all these years of watching them cover the Bush administration and the war on terrorism, and now watching them cover this election, then I have no problem admitting that I think you're stupid. 4. I was watching Obama's victory speech (which was very good), and I saw in the crowd so many people with tears in their eyes and looks on their faces like they were watching Jesus Christ Himself speak. They are in for a rude awakening if they actually believe that Obama is going to save them from their everyday problems. They're still going to have to pay for gas and their mortgages. You cannot put all your hope and faith into one man and expect that he will somehow take care of your life. A fundamental ideological difference between me and too many other people is that I put my hope more in my own hard work and initiative -- as well as my family and faith -- than in a politician, who is just as human as the rest of us. 5. John McCain is a man who truly loves this country, and has spent his entire adult life fighting for what he believes is right for it, both in war and in Washington. That is admirable and, to be honest, humbling. But it has to be said that he was one of the worst candidates the GOP could have had. He's a man who won the nomination via cross-over votes from independents and moderates, only shoring up base support when he chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. Did anyone really expect the conservative base to support a man who has spent the last eight years undermining our president's domestic policies and positioning himself as a maverick, anti-Republican? 6. Overall, I'm just disappointed. I'll leave it to other people to talk about the social issues of this campaign, but I think it's unfortunate that national security took a back seat in this election. People take it for granted that there is such a strong national security, and they don't seem to realize that without it, there would be no social issues to even talk about. For an issue that so directly affects my life as a Marine, it is downright disheartening that America has put in charge of its military a man who has opposed every strategy that has won the war in Iraq. But now that it's over, I'm going to continue with the plan I've had before election day even came: I'm going to go on living my life.
This is BY FAR the best post in this forum to date! Not one thing in this post can anyone with a brain disagree with.
If you listened to all of his speech, he said that it may not take one year, or maybe even four years to get where we're going. His campaign/presidential team is now lowering expectations because they are finally taking into consideration how his supporters see him as a god-like figure. They're expecting too much. So basically, all the people voted for change that could quite possibly not take place in his first term as president. What about the "false starts" he suggested in the same speech? McCain will go down as one of the worst Republican candidates in recent memory, along with Dole (and even Bush). His campaign should go down as the worst in history, and the Obama campaign should be considered the greatest. The things they dodged and weaved around (as well as their targeting the youth, internet, poster propaganda, clothing, etc.) to get Obama elected is astonishing. Again, the Republicans gave in and gave the nomination to a guy who wanted to complete a dream of becoming one of America's greatest war-heroes turned presidents. His nomination was a sympathy nomination, since he had lost a bitter primary to Bush in 2000. It's time to dump the neocons/moderates/RINOs and return to our conservative roots.
There is not a Republican alive who coud have won this election. The media, the Bush albatross and the gullibility of most voters would not have allowed it.
We WON? Since when? What "war"? This is not a war, it's a policing action between two religious factions. Violence went down when Al Sadr decided he didn't want to kill fellow Iraqis any more. It had little to do with any "surge", and there would have been no need to "win" if we hadn't gone in in the first place. Thank you for your service, but how long have you been a Marine? 30 years? 40 years? Don't you agree that a career military man might have a bit of a skewed opinion on how government should spend our money? I don't mean that as disrespectful.
