Even though the election did not turn out the way I, or many others wanted it to, I do have to say this; it is truly a great historic day for the United States of America.
I am still very proud to call myself an American and I’m grateful I live in the greatest nation in the world. This election is proof that in this country all men and women are created equal. In this country you are not judged by your gender, race or religion. This moment in time marks when the people of the United Sates elected its first African-American President. This election proves that we can look at ourselves as a nation that has overcome bigotry and racism and thus ending the time of racial preferences. As Americans we should be all be proud. I know that as an American I will proudly serve my President and my Country in with the rights and freedom this great Nation provides. But realistically what type of President will Barack Obama be?
Barack Obama and the Democratic Party ran a brilliant campaign and should be commended. But how will this campaign affect his Presidency? After all, his brief performance and voting record as a Senator earned him the title of one of the most liberal Senators in Congress from the National Review. He was ranked as 16th in 2005, 10th in 2006 and the number 1 most liberal Senator in 2007. Now to be honest the National Review is considered a rightwing conservative magazine; but I have found several other leftwing sources that reflect the same record and scores, and many that point to the National Review rankings with pride. The point here is not who said what, but more so that there is a trend reflected in these rankings.
Is this nation moving to, or has it moved to the far left? I don’t believe so. I do, however, believe it did move more center left. I believe that this country is looking for change, but it did not give the overwhelming mandate the far leftwing was hoping for. After all, while both houses did gain Democratic seats, both houses fell short of numbers hoped for by the Party. Even more evident is the Obama Presidential Campaign itself. I believe his quest to be President started well before his term as Senator. In fact, I believe this goal and ambition was set back in his college days or earlier. But, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that! I commend him on this. Setting and achieving goals are part of the American dream. The point I want to make here, is not when he set his goals and ambitions, but more so how he achieved them.
He is a great speaker and an eloquent orator, but these alone would not achieve his goals if nobody heard him. I will not dwell on his associations with people like Bill Ayers, ACORN and reverend Wright other than to say these were all a means to achieve public notice, and launch his career to the White House. It was through these associations that he became a community activist and then on to the State Senate in 1996. These associations were apparently more for political expedience, at least I hope. As they became more of a liability to him, he did distance himself from what they did or said. This is not new or unique to him or his party. Almost all politicians practice this; liberal, centrist or conservative. If truth be told, we as a people do this as well.
As the approval ratings of the Bush administration and Republican Congress plummeted (due to the war in Iraq, response to hurricane Katrina, deficit spending, etc), Barack and others saw and opportunity to make it on the National Stage, a seat in the Senate. After all, getting to be the Commander in Chief is usually done through a major political office like Vice President, Senator or Governor, especially if you did not have military experience. The time was right to take the seat vacated by Republican Illinois Senator Peter Fitzgerald, and start his Presidential run. But before he could do this, he would have to get his parties nomination.
You may ask, what does this have to do with his senatorial voting record moving more and more liberal? I can see two reasons. First, it is true the political landscape in Washington in 2006 was moving more left, but this would put it back towards the center. The Senate ended up split with 49 democrats, 49 republicans, and 2 independents. Remember it was just 2 years earlier that George W Bush was reelected. I don’t believe he would not have made it to the US Senate as an ultra liberal. Second, if he tried to upstage his parties’ leaders like the Clintons, Al Gore, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry as a junior Senator he would have been abandoned. He has to earn their respect and his place in the party. After all it was widely believed that Hillary Clinton was going to be the next democratic nomination for the Presidency, and thus make history as being the first female presidential nominee. So he started towards the center of his parties’ ideology.
When he announced his run for the nomination, it was considered by many as a mere token attempt to get noticed. Maybe he could make a name for him self for an upcoming attempt. He was relatively unknown on the national stage and had little financial backing. He did however have a couple of things going for him. First and foremost he has his outstanding skills as a statesman. Second and I hate to say it, or it have any bearing on an election; but he is a young, attractive man. He is very appealing, easy to listen to as well as look at. This is a key to capture the young vote. These, as well as the canvassing of his previous association got him noticed, started his financial backing, and kicked off his run for the nomination. The more he was seen the more popular he became. But he still had to defeat the Hillary Clinton and the Democratic machine.
One very important thing can not be overlooked. Obama knew that the people of this country were crying out for change, and the leadership of his party wants to push a far left agenda in order to appeal to its growing liberal base. If he wanted to gain the support of Howard Dean, Al Gore and John Kerry, Obama has to appear more liberal than Hillary and thus goes his voting record. Now, on the other hand, Hillary was already looking past the party nomination to the General Election. In doing so, she has to play a more centrist roll. Also, since she was considered to be the front runner, she was under constant attack by the rightwing. This started in the Clinton administration when she was accused of making the decisions for Bill. It only grew worse when she kicked off her own political career as Senator of New York. The rightwing opinions were then further echoed by the other front runners for the Democratic Party nomination.
While the front runners for both the Democrats and Republicans fought it out against Hillary, the appeal of Obama enabled him to a gain very favorable position and coverage with the mainstream media. This young, attractive, well spoken African American man, seeking a major party nomination could only help their ratings and viewership. Everybody likes the stories of the underdog making it big. This was the political situation and coverage he needed. Everyone was attacking the front runner and he was gaining popularity. He knew that as he gained popularity he would also become the target of attacks. But this was, and still is, a very touchy issue. How does one go about criticizing a political figure who is a “person of color” without being labeled a racist? It’s sad to have this still going on today, but it’s true. It’s not just the civil rights activists, but even the mainstream media promoted and fostered this separatist ideology. In fact, even when someone tried to express a favorable opinion of this Senator by saying “he is charismatic” or an “eloquent speaker”, they were labeled as being racist. I just don’t see it. What is wrong or racist about noticing these outstanding qualities? Not many people have this notoriety, and personally I would be honored. It is really saying this person has the same great qualities as other outstanding leaders in their time; people like Bill Clinton, Mother Teresa, Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Regan, Gandhi, John F Kennedy, Winston Churchill, the list goes on.
For the media labeling political figures as racist, points to scandal, corruption and bias, for which the public will pay for in the way of subscriptions and advertisements. This sells as much as, if not more than, those sexy ads we see for Victoria Secrets, Levi Jeans and others. This made it very hard to run against him, and affectively gave Obama a free pass from criticism. Anything said about him, his character, or questionable associations would get you labeled as a racist. The conservative rightwing media started pointing out his previous associations with ACORN, Ayers and Reverend Wright only when the race for the Democratic Nomination narrowed. It wasn’t until then these associations started to become a liability, and thus necessitated a gentle subdued distancing. After all, these associations had influence on many people and got him to this point. Since he still had to defeat Hillary, he could not afford a negative influence by these relationships. If this base, many of which are black Americans, lower income people, and liberal left supporters, jumped to Hillary, his run would be over. Then again, he didn’t have to do a major and repeated denouncement. As long as he did say something, it would satisfy the mainstream press; and if Hillary Clinton or John McCain pushed the issue, they would be branded as attacking his race, and not his character. You have to admit making this play was a brilliant political move.
Such a long and hard fought race just to secure the nomination was not something Hillary expected, or really was prepared for. She, and her campaign, felt that after few primaries and caucuses she could focus on the General Election. But for Barack, this long process did nothing but help. Since they were both fighting for their parties’ base, they had to present a more leftwing agenda that focused on ending the war in Iraq, along with several very expensive and liberal social issues. Issues of growing government control of most everything from education and college funding to healthcare and medication. Of course these were going to be paid for by taxing big corporations (like the oil companies) and the wealthy. Hillary, while still having her eye on the General Election, did not move as far left as Barack; but she did move more than she wanted. She did however focus more on the experience issue, and this probably had the greatest effect. She felt that her being in the Senate longer than he, as well as being First Lady, represented she had more executive experience, and could be called upon in the middle of the night.
Other than the experience issue, the tactics and attacks used by Hillary had little negative effect on Barack. They may have even helped him to refine his “rhetorical flourishes” to fend off attacks, as well as suggest agendas without committing or revealing too much. After all was said and done, Barack Obama made history as the first African-American to secure the nomination for president by a major party.
I believe that Barack himself did not truly believe he would make it this far on his first attempt. More likely, Barack felt that if he made it to the top three or four on the democratic ticket he succeeded, and better positioned himself for 2012. I might be wrong; but either way, it was now time to focus on the General Election, and there was little time left. Now was the time he (and the DNC) had to present his campaign in a way that would appeal to the country as a whole. They new they had to win over the independents.
Again, the criticism that seemed to take hold the most, was that of experience. With the country currently in two wars, and John McCain being a war hero, this would definitely be a hurdle. He also had to show he was an effective leader; one that could handle not only domestic issues, but foreign policy and defense issues as well. Without going into all the pros and cons of the VP possibilities, or if Hillary would have accepted and created a super ticket; I will just say that Joe Biden was chosen to limit the impact of experience and foreign policy issues.
It is at this point his policies and agendas also had to move toward the center. While it is true the country is in transition, it has only been from the slight center right position to more of a centrist position, and at most, only slightly center left. Now, instead of withdraw of all military troops by early 2010, it must be a calculated and coordinated withdraw that will take 18 months. Instead of himself, unconditionally sitting down with terrorist leaders, he would open communication channels with them utilizing lower government representatives. Instead of increasing the tax on the wealthy and big corporations, we would just go back to the plan under the Clinton Administration. Instead of raising the capitol gains tax to 40 percent, maybe 15 to 20 would do. He will also reduce taxes for 95 percent of all Americans. Of course, he even redefines this again, from “all” Americans to “working” Americans.
Now the election is over, and history has been made. We have elected our first African-American President. But this election did more than just that. Because of the disapproval of the current administration, congress has moved more to a center left position. This once again puts control of both Houses of Congress and the Presidency in one party. This has many on the right very afraid only ultra liberal agendas will be presented and passed.
Can it really be this bad? Are we as doomed, as the ultra right would have us believe? I hope not, and don’t really think so. After all, having these two branches of government under one party is not new; and it will change once again. Both parties have had it, and both parties have lost it. When the Democrats lost it the last time, it was under the first part of the Clinton Administration when President Clinton tried pushing a liberal agenda. The people saw this and spoke out then as well. President Clinton then had to move more towards the center. I’m sure Barack does not want his legacy to be diminished by losing democratic control once again. I think he is much smarted than that. If he wants a second term and a great legacy, which I'm sure he does, he will have to govern from the middle. If not, this moment in history will be tarnished.
Am I concerned? Yes I am. Am I hopeful? Yes I am. But, I will be watching, and I’m not afraid to vote.
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