Day: November 4, 2008

Senator McCain has been very gracious in his concession speech.  He has shown he is a statesman, not just a politician.  He has called for the nation to unite behind President-elect Obama and has pledged to support "his President" in all of his endeavors.  This is appropriate and should be an example for all Americans, as we need to stop the stalemate and gridlock which has become so common in the last two decades.

The poisonous atmosphere so often promoted by right wing radio and tv commentators, including Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh must be repudiated, as they do not have the welfare of the country in mind, but rather their own aggrandizement and publicity.  It is time that the American people rejected them by refusing to watch and listen to their disgraceful propaganda designed to divide, rather than unite. 

Responsible Republicans and conservatives will want to give President-elect Obama a chance to show his leadership, while still, of course, reserving the right to criticize and offer alternative ideas and programs to help us out of the economic mess we are in, and also to resolve the Iraq war which is depleting our resources and making enemies for us in the Islamic world without any positive effect on our national security and foreign policy.

We should all be happy that the long Presidential campaign is over and pray for insight and wisdom in our new President!

I am stunned and at the same time ecstatic at the news just minutes ago that Barack Obama has been elected the 44th President of the United States, with the projection that he has won California and therefore has gained a majority of the Electoral College votes!

This is a tremendous development for a country that has suffered greatly in its image overseas,  and it has also restored faith in the future of America domestically.  We now have a fresh start and hope for the best as Barack Obama faces a daunting challenge in both domestic economic policy and foreign policy.  All Americans need to unite behind the new President as he attempts to deal with a crisis on the level of the Great Depression and the Civil War.  We can only hope that he is up to the task, as we desperately need leadership on the level of Franklin D Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln!

As a result of today’s national election, the US Senate should be much more Democratic with the expectation that the Democrats will gain seats in Virginia, New Hampshire, North Carolina, , Minnesota, New Mexico, Colorado, Oregon and Alaska , with an outside chance to win in Kentucky, Georgia and even possibly Maine if Barack Obama has strong coattails. Therefore, the number of Democratic seats should increase from 51 (with Joe Lieberman and Bernie Sanders caucusing with the Democrats) to at least 59 and possibly a high of 62 if everything breaks for the Democrats.

Of course, one could wish conservative Republicans in such states as Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama could be defeated, but one must be realistic!  🙂

The real tragedy is the further movement to the right of the Republican party with the likely defeat of a number of moderate Republicans.  This is bad news for the GOP future and for the two party system, with the Republicans possibly being marginalized in a country gone in the opposite direction of the trend of the past 28 years, since the "Reagan Revolution" took hold on America.  We may be in the center of a new political revolution, the "Obama Revolution"!

Additionally, the Democratic edge in the House of Representatives, now 236-199, may go up by as much as 28-35 seats.  What an amazing set of developments when one considers that just a few years ago, it was thought we were in the midst of a "permanent" Republican majority.  American politics continues to amaze!