Our New Country

In 75 days we will have a new President of the United States of America. In his victory speech President-Elect Barack Obama reiterated what every politician says every time they are elected for something. We need unity. It is an old standby, one that never fails to choke up supporters and sway people who are on the fence. However, if one were to go by President-Elect Obama’s track record, the track records of those who he seems ready to appoint, and of Senator Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, unity and reaching across the aisle is not high on their agenda. The far left is arguably in more power now than ever before, and is in no mood to share that power by reaching out to the opposite side. And why would they? We’ve seen what reaching across to the other party can do, just ask President George W. Bush and look at his approval rating. During his presidency President Bush has been subjected to more unfair criticism than possibly any other president in modern history. In large part this is due to his attempts to appease the left. But rather than bring unity, his outreaches alienated him from his own party, and failed to gain him favor with the other. But make no mistake, the new future leaders of this country have no interest in reaching across party lines, and honestly, it is not in their best interest to do so.

President-Elect Obama won this election for two main reasons: The economic crisis that fell at a most inopportune time for republicans (though Democrats had a hand in causing the crisis), and because September 11th caused republican leaders to succumb to corruption while the eyes of a distracted president were turned overseas. The far left agenda is not one that rings to the ears of Americans as it does to other, mostly European nations. And why should it? Our country has become great, not on those principles, but on (though most liberal democrats won’t admit) substantially more conservative values and principles. The Obama campaign was well run, however, and their monetary budget allowed them substantial gains in the election. The American people did not vote in this election over values and issues. They voted to get the republicans out of leadership, because the republicans did not do a good job of explaining to the public what was actually going on. The media did not help either, as it continues to polarize itself on either one side of the party line or the other.

The republicans did not help themselves either. They got away from their roots and their values and nominated a candidate who holds “watered down” conservative principles. If the republicans want to rebound from these losses, they are going to have to get back to their conservative values and principles and get away from the “rotund belly” corruptions.
In one of his opinion articles, Dick Morris made the observation that the new leaders of America are held without much wiggle room to push their agenda by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and by the economic crisis in America, leaving them without much practical space to use their power. In this writer’s humble opinion, when has anyone known the far left to be practical? They have waited too long for this chance to worry about details like wars and crises. They will push their agenda, and we will have to wait and see how the American people respond to it.

On one more note, the treatment of Governor Sarah Palin has been atrocious. The poor woman has been subject to aggressive negative actions by both parties and the media, and is now being blamed for Senator McCain’s election loss. When will it end? Is she subject to this abuse for the rest of her career? While the country has taken a metaphorical step forward with the election of an African-American president, it has taken that step right back in its treatment of a woman.