Editorial: A Look Back and a Look Ahead

The last time that one of these wonderful little editorials was written; in any sort of earnest, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were still trying to convince the rest of the country that one of them would make the best candidate for President of the United States of America.  John McCain was just being realized as a serious candidate and the Presidential race seemed like it was most likely going to last for the rest of my adult life.

Since that time, after one too many weeks of her carrying out a President campaign that was chalk full of many an error of comedic proportion; and after being told that waiting around for your opponent to be assassinated was just outrageously morbid.  Hillary Clinton; finally, did the World, the Democratic Party, The Feminist Movement, and anyone else you want to add to that list; a huge favor and dropped out of the Presidential race.  However, Hillary did this after ripping a gigantic gulf size hole, the size of the Grand Canyon between the Democratic Party faction lines.  Heck, as it is now, a Liberal Feminist Lesbian and an African-American cannot walk down the street in New York City without snarling at one another.  How is that for Hope and Change?

Once Hillary did finally get it through the miles of granite between her ears, that the American people wanted Obama, and not her —- she finally stepped aside.  However, not before doing a little dog and pony show with Obama.  I mean, the woman does have an ego; they had to make her feel good, one last time.

At this point is when the real action started, John McCain was anointed the golden boy of his Party, and that is when the bare-knuckle brawl between McCain and Obama and their many surrogates began.  There was a point when this writer was not sure what was worse, the race baiting of the Obama surrogates or some of the more moronic racism of the surrogates of McCain.

One of the biggest tragedies of this Presidential race was that the contenders of Barack Obama made some of the same silly mistakes, McCain and Hillary made the same misfires, miscalculations, and bad decisions.  This proves quite a few things.  One it proves that a Caucasian cannot effectively run against an African-American Candidate.  The reason is the “race card” issue, when cornered on his lack of experience; Obama’s surrogates would play that card and play it quite effectively.  This would cause a misfire by the other campaign and for the other campaign to be looked upon as racist.  This is what happened in Hillary Clinton and John McCain’s campaigns both; and they both made the same dreadfully awful mistakes.

However, I would committing a crime of epic proportions, if I did not acknowledge the fact that the Republican Party and those controlling John McCain’s campaign made some horrifically awful mistakes.  The Republican Party and John McCain’s campaign both tried to paint Obama as a terrorist by proxy.  The sick part is that they learned it from Hillary’s Campaign.  The very worst thing that Obama did was sit on a board with a man, who committed criminal acts; that were done in opposition to the Vietnam War.  These acts, horrific as they were, happened when Obama was all of eight years old.  How could anyone, who has a sane rational mind; want to try to subjugate a man to that sort of scrutiny over something he had no control over?

Barack Obama’s Pastor though was another matter entirely, this author does not entirely believe Obama’s claim that he did not ever hear his Pastor, say incendiary comments from the pulpit.  Obama might have heard the sermons and chose to ignore the content that he found offensive, which is an entirely plausible scenario.  It did however; bring up some very harsh differences between the White and Black cultures, sometimes to an uncomfortable and unsettling pitch at times.

The amazing thing was that; as much as I disagree with a great deal of his political ideologies, Obama handled all of the distractions and the controversies —- I refer to the man himself, not his tag-along followers; with a great deal of grace.  Obama did not run your “A typical” African-American campaign.  Obama ran a campaign like a very intelligent Harvard Graduate would run a campaign.  Obama’s campaign was not about the; whether real or imagined —- “Struggle.”

….and so, the election happened.  There was this release of an overwhelming feeling of, “Finally, it’s over.”  Obama Won.  The Republican Party got a lesson of how just how smart America really is, despite their attempts to paint Americans as complete idiots.  John McCain went back to the senate, Obama is now picking staff, Hillary, rewarded for her hard work, and maybe the Dog and Pony Shows, will be the new Secretary of State. Yeah, she is getting Condi’s old job.  As they say, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

Bloggers and pundits —-Liberal and Conservative alike are now facing a very daunting task and that is, trying to figure out, what happens now? At the risk of sounding like Arlo Guthrie — I mean, most pundits and we Bloggers made it our life’s daily chore to analyze the Election.  I mean, Liberal Bloggers made it their life’s work to mock, and generally hate George W. Bush.  I mean…Now what?

I know what this author will do.  First, like many Americas who lived through the Bush era, I will happily put the past 8 years behind me.  I will, as someone who voted for Bob Barr, praise Obama after he is sworn in as President, when he does something that I think is great and wonderful.  Likewise, as a member of the loyal opposition, I will criticize Obama when I feel he has something that goes against the political beliefs that I hold as a somewhat Moderate Conservative Libertarian. It will be fair, not overly partisan, but rooted in what I consider to be fair.  I will not stoop to the stupidity of some on the right; who do feel the need to mock the man, every time he takes a breath.  However, my criticism will strictly be policy based.  Anything other than that is either racist in nature or goes into the realm of partisan idiocy.  Something I despise as a rule.

Therefore, there you have it.  Where we have been and where we are going.  Stick around; the mountaintop is coming on quickly.  I just want to be able to see it for myself.