Nappy Headed Black Child

Ok Elections over Obama won and the Dems have congressional majority.  Its not quite fillabuster strength but a majority nonetheless and they are quite happy. The Republicans are sitting around the war room table pointing fingers and trying to figure out how the eff they lost so badly

Personally i thought it was gonna be a tight race. With all the variables factored in (I.E. Obama inexperience and race issues but his ridiculous fundrasing ability and popularity; McCain experience and leadership but poor judgement with palin, his age, and the meaning of "maverick" in rhetorical limbo.)  I had Obama just barely edging out McCain. But thats politics for you.

So before we get to the what now lets get to what happened.

Obama's Keys to Victory

1. He didn't scare the white people (well the smart ones anyway). As we all saw the campaign got racial and ugly there with the muslim and black thing. Obama was able to dodge the race issues (much to the shagrin of pro black groups and im using that generously) by addressing the situation as a Class issue. Championing the Middle class. Being the championing the middle class is a much larger group that just an individual ethinc group and you get to address those issues as well. (We see you lindsey boggs. HI HATER!!!)

2. Strong on the Economy and linked it to every other thing of importance in the. He was very Reagan-esque in his plan to rebuild the economy. He kept is simple and has specific points. Cutting taxes for 95% of families, create jobs by investing in clean technology which would help the environment which in turn reduces our energy dependancy and puts us in a better position in the Middle east, etc. McCain wasnt able to get solid footing on that subject and that hurting him some would say fatally becasue it was the most importan topic in the campaign.

3. Media. They loved him and he could do no wrong and he took advantage

4. The thematic framing of his campaign. Change and Hope. This was perfect for the political climate in which this race began. His personal history reflected it, his "honest" (hey he is a politician after all) up front manner reflected it. He was a cool breeze in a humid room.

McCain Lost due to

1. Bad Gambles. Palin was the first one. He wanted to exemplify that he was about change, he wanted to the rally the base that was clearly underwhelmed and unenthusiastic, and he wanted to at least attempt to steal some of those angry Hilary supporters away from Obama. Strategically it makes sense. Too bad she turned out to be (or was made to look like by the media) inept. Everybody was diggin into Palin from Larry Flynt to SNL. Also with his age in question she stood to be the next President. People were not feeling that at all The Bailout was the second one. McCain suspends his campaign to go to washington to work on a bailout bill was high unpopular and failed. Now McCain is attempting to run as an outsider (a person who operates outside of the party and by proxy works more in the interests of the People at large). Now going to Washington to work on this and annoncing it to the public in a manner suggesting that you have a lot of influence and can really steer this bill, is the antithesis of an outsider. Then on top of that it fails. 

2. Media. You make the Media your enemy it will crush you. This was particularly surprising becasue McCain traditionally has done very well with the media.

3. Campaign. Frankly it was shitty. In a hostile political climate you must run as an outsier against your party. McCain was probably the only Republican who had a shot at winning this election given his record of partisan cooperation and centrist policy leanings and he ran a traditional republcian campaign. Our base is bigger their base so rally the troops and we win. They got outfunded. Their character assasination attempts were attempted too late in the campaign to matter and he lacked a strong palatable economic plan rooted in conservative principles

4. The Republican Party. They were lukewarm about McCain. Like i said they werent really excited about him and that reflected in campaign donations. If McCain wasn't getting hammer in advertising 4 to 1 in key battleground states that really should have never been battleground states such as VA, WV, and NC. He might have won.

ok with that said. Where do the parties go from here

Democrats can be expected to try and bulldoze every single piece of legislation they can. Obama needs to play the center and let both sides come to him. Go too far left and by midterm elections republicans will own congress and making reelection much more difficult. Have your legislation ready on DAY ONE and in congress on DAY TWO dont wait for the midterms to get out the gate. People want action. I feel pretty confident in saying Obama was elected becasue he seems to be better on the economy. So...make sure the economy gets better and deal with Iraq.

On a personal note. Obama dont fuck this up. 

Republicans, Its restructure time. More women, More Minorities. Stand on your principles. The republican party is gonna have to be more inclusive and represent a wider spectrum of interests becasue minority groups are growing. the Dems have closed the gap in groups that were traditionally Republican groups such as men and latinos. That may be just the Obama Effect at work but still. Next time nominate somebody yall actually like.

shout out to Mckinney, Barr, and Nader. Good Game Guys

^^I was there :-)