President Obama received the necessary votes for another term. Whether or not this is a victory will be fleshed out later. What dismays me most is the polarized nature of the process and the result. Instead of a campaign of ideas, we ended up with a mud slinging contest and the bulk of it came from the man who offered us hope and change we could believe in (four years ago, anyway). Whatever the future will be, we are left with a nation and a people severely divided as to the agenda and the priorities facing us. Men and women of good will seem to be in ever short supply when it comes to the national stage. It would seem that both Republican leaders and the President and his crew could benefit from a bit more humility and a great deal more repentance. For the worst outcome of this election just might be the mind and mood of the voter. It is one thing to run a campaign like campaigns before and to lose. It is another to insist that you are different, better, and above the partisan fray and then prove you are the same. The end result here is not a political win or loss but the disillusionment of a great many who had hoped for more from the people who made them promises.
I have never been an Obama fan but neither have I been a Romney fan. I voted not as a true believer but as a person making a choice between two very different visions for America. For good or for ill, I voted and will vote again. I fear that one outcome of this nation is that we will settle for big campaigns of small ideas, elections won by tearing down the opponent rather than raising up a positive agenda, and candidates who are better at beating up each other than forging a national consensus. On purpose I borrowed those words from then candidate Obama who spoke them four years ago. If there is one thing I would require of any winner of an election it is that they would be forced to listen to the high ideals they espoused in the beginning and then be forced to repent of the low blows they ended up slinging -- no matter what party they come from.
3 comments:
I don't think it could have been said any better.
Unlike kings of old, American presidents do not rule by dictate.
President Obama had high, lofty goals in 2008. He did not accomplish all these goals because he had to deal with a Republican Party that refused to compromise. A Republican Party that was much more concerned with "winning" and depriving him of any claim of victory, than of achieving bipartisan accomplishments.
Obama isn't perfect but I admire his courage to stick to his principles and not change them based on poll numbers or which electorate he was speaking to (primary or general) as did his opponent.
Obama had two years with his party in majority and still things did not get done. He has been at least as rigid as the GOP. When the election seemed to slip through his fingers, he resorted to killing Romney rather than giving life to his ideas. He had a complicit media to help him and a gullible public wanting to believe he was still the same man when he promised hope and change. Gary, you are naive.
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