Post election discussions and thoughts

[mirrodie]

So what did everyone think of Omaba's acceptance speech?

I thought it was great. He appeared humble, absolutely spent and gratuituous. I especially liked that he reached out to those who did not vote for him. He still wants to earn their vote and their help moving forward. I feel this is important.

The one post election story I loved is that the morning after, he took his girls to school and then hit the gym.

Another moment seared in my mind was the image of Jesse Jackson, tearing, not sobbing like some overdramatics have. There are really no other photos that realized the moment so poignantly. I was nearly moved to tears myself becauase our country has finally transcended a major barrier. And...America has once again shown why its so great.

http://bp0.blogger.com/_gAMJnGMd02g/SHjHcRVZf2I/AAAAAAAAB2k/oQkx9zjkS-A/s400/Jackson.jpg

http://images.bridgeman.co.uk/cgi-bin/bridgemanImage.cgi/400wm.PNP.2842520.7055475/249303.JPG

http://www.spiegel.de/img/0,1020,1347430,00.jpg

McCain's speech absolutely blew me away. It was the McCain I'd once known and that had gotten lost during the campaign. I do hope that Obama reaches out to utilize him. That is bipartisanship at its finest. I can only hope for the unimaginable.

On to Palin. From the start, I felt she was the wrong person for the job. She is not a bad person by any means. She was the GOP's defining right wing conservative, where all these homegrown values flourished within her. The problem is that if elected, she could no longer represent those values. There was no way she could govern and tend to 4 kids(one off to war) , one with special needs. A single child with special needs makes for a difficult lifestyle, let alone more children. She invokes a fire but came off as a bit of the cheerleader. In essence, the GOP shot themselves in the foot.

The spending spree may not have been her fault but its was still a clear wrong message.

Before long, she already acquired Quayle-esque traits and was an object of ridicule.

I think she's a good person, particularly smart, heck, a governor. Problem is every misstep was jumped on. I sincerely doubt the new reports from within the McCain camp were anything more than spiteful references from a person or two. Its unfortunate.

Moving forward, I remain cautiously optimistic.

thoughts?

[Matt Molnar]

I think Jesse Jackson was crying because he had just lost his job as "America's most important black guy." Now he's about as relevant to the national discourse as Flavor Flav.

It is indeed a great thing for our country, and an example for the world. Not only is he the first black US president, but the first black leader of any of the G7 nations (yes, most of the others have smaller black populations than we do, but still a big step).

As for the move to bipartisanship...I just don't see it happening. While a couple of folks on Obama's short lists for the cabinet might be a step in that direction, like Colin Powell, most of them seem to be old school divisive politicians, starting with his newly hired chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel. Also appearing on the lists are plenty of schmucks Obama owes favors to...a number of Kennedys and John Kerry, for example. While there is certainly a "change" in store, it isn't exactly the kind we hoped for, it's just replacing old Republican schmucks with old Democratic schmucks. The best we can hope for is that he hires mostly people who aren't entirely controversial.

[PhilDernerJr]

As I've said in recent past, I voted for Obama mainly because of Colin Powell's endorsement. I was a little concerned about whether or not I made the right decision. But after his acceptance speech, I feel great.

I think that he will do some interesting things to truly try to bring about change...I really do believe that. I think that there's so much excitement, that even with some of the "schmucks" he may choose, that maybe this guy really can teach these old dogs new tricks. This "revolution of change" which people are expecting will continue to roll, I think, and these cabinet members, as well as the House and Senate, will have little choice but to go along with it....this country's so swept up in what is expected to come that anyone who slows down Obama will lose fans among the public very quickly.