Election '08

Ok kids, here we are. This is the moment Democrats have been waiting for since Gore won the popular vote but lost the election in 2000. I’ve written enough times about Barack Obama that, by now, you all know what a fan I am. I do have a few concerns about a couple different scenarios that could play out, not just today, but over the next four to eight years.

The concern for today is the obvious, these are the Democrats we’re talking about here and as I’ve said before, if there is one group of people that can come from ahead and lose, it’s the Dem’s. We saw it in 2000 and again in 2004. The only thing you and I can do about it is to help get the vote out. Call your friends and relatives and help get them to the polls if you have to. Most important, get to the polls yourself. This is easily the most important election of our lives and we’ll have nobody to blame but ourselves if we blow it.

My other concern is about the future. Whether Obama or McCain wins, the fear is how each chooses to actually govern. Personally, I’m a liberal. Actually there are some issues that liberals think I’m too far to the left on. On the other hand, I’m also a realist. If either candidate strays too far from the middle, once elected, I believe their presidency will be one of complete failure and will also be short lived.

The truth is that, in general, we Americans are really not that far apart when it comes to our politics. Now wait, don’t write and tell me what a fool I am quite yet, just look at the past. A major move to the middle saves Clinton’s Presidency. If you look at the approval polls for his first two years in office you’ll see they were nothing to be proud of. After being forced to move towards a safer middle ground he won the election with 379 electoral votes, basically a blowout. Please remember that this was in the middle of his being impeached by the majority Republican congress. I don’t think he would have stood a chance if he had stayed with the same platform he won with in 1992.

If Obama wins he will, as Clinton did, assume the office with a Democratic Congress. While I would have personally approved of Clinton’s sticking to more liberal policies, again, I’m a realist and know that without the Republican congress being voted into office in ’94 he would not have been forced to move away from those thoughts and I believe that is what saved his Presidency.

I want Barack Obama to win this election. I think this is my generations “Kennedy moment”. I do, however, hope that he doesn’t stray too far from the middle. Not because I’m some kind of centrist, but because I want his time in office to be successful. I don’t believe that either candidate can be successful without staying a little more to the center of the line.

Anyway, that’s what I’m thinking about this election day of 2008. Agree or disagree with me, it doesn’t really matter. I don’t think I’m breaking any new ground here by saying what I’ve said. The bottom line though is that only time will tell