Raw thoughts on a morning after

The best thing about this presidential election is we have our first African-American president(-elect). I mean that. Congratulations to President-elect Obama. About time. I have been consistent in saying this.

Exit polls shows that for 6/10 of voters it was the economy. That is correct. People are afraid and anxious about their financial future – which is why so many of them voted for the party that is chiefly responsible for the mess we are in. (That is not in my opinion a matter of debate but a matter of record.) And somehow – somehow – Sen Obama and other Democrats running for office convinced so many voters that the Bush administration and its policies caused this.

That is a really neat trick.

Sen Obama is neither the Messiah (take that Oprah) nor the anti-Christ (take that… oh you conservative bloggers you know you who are). But I am still a bit wounded for this reason.

1) I am disappointed in some of the American electorate.

Let me clarify. Some voted for Sen Obama for reasons that have less to do with evidence logic or reason. They did not understand very well what they were voting for. And yes one can demonstrate this. (And those who voted for Sen Obama knowing reasonably well who he is and what he stands for – insofar as one can determine that on any given week – and so on… good for you. I can respect that.)

(I suppose in fairness one should suggest that the same can be said for many Republican voters.)

Last week on “All Things Considered” Robert Siegel(?) interviewed a real live undecided voter in Nashville Tennessee. She was 35 and a single mom. Had not made up her mind. Had McCain days and Obama days. The interviewer asked her why McCain on those days.

The woman proceeded to list several specific reasons and items. His experience. His years of service. His position on this. His record on that.

Why Obama?

He “inspires hope” and he is optimistic. And that was it.

I was stunned. I thought “surely this woman is a Republican plant – she is not undecided she just wanted to get on the radio and share a great list for McCain and a flimsy emotive shell of a list for Obama in order to smack people in the brain and get them to wake up and admit reality”.

So that is my first honest reaction. It will offend some people. I understand that.

(I encourage readers to peruse an intelligent and interesting alternate perspective from a self-described closet conservative who voted Democrat.)

2) My second honest reaction is increased respect for Sen McCain.

He almost pulled it off.

Last night I dropped by the library and perused latest National Review in which they portrayed Sen McCain as a ship’s captain steering straight ahead into the face of a raging storm. That was a long tough brutal nasty difficult campaign – and he toughed it out the whole way even when it did not look good from poll numbers (to which I shall return). He showed way more character and class than his opponent. (Which is not to say he never had bad moments. Sen Obama campaigned – in general – better and more effectively.)

3) How about those polls eh?

The final numbers were not as close as they looked when I first went to bed (when the news programs were showing something like 51% Obama and 49% McCain). This should not surprise given that the western states are the last to report in.

So on the one hand the poll predictions were off – Sen Obama did not win by as much as predicted (or at least as polls indicated). I feel like the media were hyping and overplaying pre-election polls.

But they were not as off by as much as I hoped. I thought “maybe something like 50+% to 49+ percent”. Apparently President-elect Obama won by a solid 52% to 46% for Sen McCain – a six percent spread. That is a clear and solid win of the popular vote.

4) How did this happen?

Well we could blame it on great campaigning here and bad campaigning there on media bias and so on. But the hard cold fact of the matter is this election to a large extent was a reaction against President Bush. Who maybe did not deserve all of the blame (the economy for example). But…

Republicans might have to consider the extent to which President Bush more or less set this up for the Democrats.

How and why did President Bush become so amazingly unpopular his second term? I think part of the answer lies in the extent to which he was truly conservative in the best sense of that word.

5) This also shows – and I think this might be the greatest lesson of all – the price of inaction.

If you care so much about this nation and its guiding vision – how hard are we willing to fight (peacefully of course) to promote and advance what we think is a better way?

Look at the election map. Democrats (more precisely political liberals – because there is nothing wrong with Democrats per se and Republicans are not inherently better) pretty much own the entire Northeast and West Coast United States. There is no longer a single Republican (read – conservative) Congressman/woman for an urban district. How did political conservatives (the “center right” – which I think is closest to the original and best understanding of the United States of America) allow this to happen? The New York Times leads with the headline Obama’s journey to the presidency marked by organization and discipline. “Organization and discipline”.

I know it is not that simple. But if I think my views and my understanding of what America should be like really is best for everyone – what am I willing to do about that?

6) Judgment (or as I prefer “consequences for past actions and policies”)

Some are waxing hyperbolic about President-elect Obama as the anti-Messiah and divine judgment on America for her sins.

Besides the problematic theology there – how sure are people about the national sins for which we supposedly are being judged? Are you sure it is all about abortion and homo-sex-yoo-ali-tee and “taking God out of the schools”?

Maybe… just maybe… these are long term consequences for slavery and Jim Crow and racial discrimination/segregation and the N-word and racist jokes and all the rest? (I am not proposing that. Just throwing out a possibility.)

When African-Americans explain why this is such a big deal to them – listen to what they specifically mention. “I remember when I was a kid and… I remember marching with… “. There is a collective memory that expressed itself dramatically. That is the only way I can interpret generously and positively such lopsided voting along ethnic lines. (Because there is no way 97% of African-Americans seriously understand and approve of President-elect Obama’s political platform. No way.)
From the Litany or General Supplication (1928 Book of Common Prayer):

We sinners do beseech thee to hear us, O Lord God; and that it may please thee to rule and govern thy holy Church universal in the right way;
That it may please thee so to rule the heart of thy servant, The President of the United States, that he may above all things seek thy honour and glory;
That it may please thee to bless and preserve all Christian Rulers and Magistrates, giving them grace to execute justice, and to maintain truth.

Amen.