comes reading and writing... nevermind. Bad joke.
Life goes on in the aftermath of the Barack Obama victory last night. On the bright side... it is great that those who were ready to blame racist America if Obama lost have no where to go. Let's face it, this is one of the most telling stories of equality of opportunity in this country. The fact that a person of color who came from modest beginnings and who, even with a fairly undistinguished professional career, was able to rise to the most powerful position in the world is a remarkable story.
What he did have was the desire, a supportive family (I think Michelle may actually be the ambition and brains behind the man), a supportive natural constituency, and a brilliant campaign strategy.
Here was Obama's greatest accomplishment, the campaign itself. He admitted when pressed about his executive experience that he running his campaign was his executive experience. You have to hand it to him... he had good people around him and he ran a fabulous campaign. Sure he raised and spent four times the money that McCain did, but that was because he captivated a lot of people into the idea of being part of something historic. Let's face it, not much historic about old, rich white guys being president.
He managed to keep himself from being fully vetted during the primary which gave him a victory over Hilary Clinton... and by then the Obama media bandwagon was on a roll... okay, don't think I'm drinking the Kool-Aid about the "liberal" media... it's just a fact, favorable headlines and stories written about Obama ran at more than 7 to 3 compared to McCain. That is not objectivity, it is bias... but okay, I get it. In fact, what is remarkable is how well McCain actually did in the face of this obvious and documentable bias.
For example... in the exit polling most people believed that McCain ran more "dirty" campaign ads... the truth is, Obama ran more than 20% more "dirty" ads than McCain did, but somehow, most people thought it was the other way around... hmmmm, wonder why that happened. But maybe the biggest kudo to the Obama campaign goes to the exit poll result that showed that between 50 and 60% of those voting had been contacted by the Obama compaign where those being contacted by the McCain campaign ranged from 30 to 40%. That was money well spent. There is nothing like being contacted individually by the campaign to get support.
The real question is how will he staff his cabinet and will there be a power struggle between Pelosi/Reid and Obama. The length of the honeymoon will be interesting. I just hope that criticisms of his policies will not be turned into a race argument. His ideas and proposals are easy enough to argue against (If you are a freedom loving, smaller government, more personal responsiblity kind of person) without the Jesse Jackson's of the world crying foul... I think Obama will be somewhat offended it that happens... at least I hope so.
Life goes on in the aftermath of the Barack Obama victory last night. On the bright side... it is great that those who were ready to blame racist America if Obama lost have no where to go. Let's face it, this is one of the most telling stories of equality of opportunity in this country. The fact that a person of color who came from modest beginnings and who, even with a fairly undistinguished professional career, was able to rise to the most powerful position in the world is a remarkable story.
What he did have was the desire, a supportive family (I think Michelle may actually be the ambition and brains behind the man), a supportive natural constituency, and a brilliant campaign strategy.
Here was Obama's greatest accomplishment, the campaign itself. He admitted when pressed about his executive experience that he running his campaign was his executive experience. You have to hand it to him... he had good people around him and he ran a fabulous campaign. Sure he raised and spent four times the money that McCain did, but that was because he captivated a lot of people into the idea of being part of something historic. Let's face it, not much historic about old, rich white guys being president.
He managed to keep himself from being fully vetted during the primary which gave him a victory over Hilary Clinton... and by then the Obama media bandwagon was on a roll... okay, don't think I'm drinking the Kool-Aid about the "liberal" media... it's just a fact, favorable headlines and stories written about Obama ran at more than 7 to 3 compared to McCain. That is not objectivity, it is bias... but okay, I get it. In fact, what is remarkable is how well McCain actually did in the face of this obvious and documentable bias.
For example... in the exit polling most people believed that McCain ran more "dirty" campaign ads... the truth is, Obama ran more than 20% more "dirty" ads than McCain did, but somehow, most people thought it was the other way around... hmmmm, wonder why that happened. But maybe the biggest kudo to the Obama campaign goes to the exit poll result that showed that between 50 and 60% of those voting had been contacted by the Obama compaign where those being contacted by the McCain campaign ranged from 30 to 40%. That was money well spent. There is nothing like being contacted individually by the campaign to get support.
The real question is how will he staff his cabinet and will there be a power struggle between Pelosi/Reid and Obama. The length of the honeymoon will be interesting. I just hope that criticisms of his policies will not be turned into a race argument. His ideas and proposals are easy enough to argue against (If you are a freedom loving, smaller government, more personal responsiblity kind of person) without the Jesse Jackson's of the world crying foul... I think Obama will be somewhat offended it that happens... at least I hope so.
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