Posted by
Patrick Henry on Friday, November 07, 2008 2:05:32 PM
On November 4 the American people voted. The sheep, spurred on by media
hype that seemed far more substance than reality, bitter parisanship and desperation
for new hope chose Barack Hussein Obama over John McCain by about seven million
votes. Many ardently believe that Obama will be the Shepherd. Nearly as many
desperately fear he will be the Wolf. The truth may be that he is neither, but that
remains to be seen.
What is being hailed as historic about the 2008 elections is that America chose a
black man to be its leader. What is equally historic is that the campaign and
circumstances that led to Obama's election have definitively changed the way
future campaigns will be run, and the traditional assumptions about what gets
one elected president. This campaign was not about issues, political philosophies,
experience, qualifications, consistency of positions, past associations and loyalties,
or public record. If it was about any of those things, Obama would have lost and
lost big. The '08 election was about identifying an idealist, a leader, the champion of
a new direction -- a Ronald Reagan or a first-term Bill Clinton. This election
wasn't somewhat about that. It was ALL about that. It's what David Axelrod and
David Plouffe always knew and the Republicans never quite figured out. The
American middle -- the independents and undecideds -- didn't vote the politics or
the positions. They voted the man! It's not just the "hope we can believe in," it's
Obama they believe in.
The Obama campaign did a masterful job of keeping Obama out of situations
where he would betray his political immaturity and inexperience by having to
field tough questions. Every time they failed to do that, he faltered (e.g., the
Camelback Forum, and Joe the Plumber). They courted, manipulated and
co-opted the media, influencing them not only to support Obama but to viciously
attack McCain and his running mate. They created an "aura of the gods" at the Denver
convention, styled Obama, preened him, made him appear glib, in control, thoughtful.
Even the contrived leaks about him playing in pickup basketball games while on the
campaign trail was designed to make him look young, hip, real. It worked!
Republicans, by contrast, appeared old, out of touch, stuck in the past (not very hip)
and decidedly negative. It was the old Karl Rove playbook. And it didn't work -- at
all. It might have worked better had they recruited a young, vibrant, glib, handsome
candidate. And they can kiss off the next EIGHT years if they don't. But more important,
cool slogans, sweeping, unfulfillable promises, concepts with no specifics and untried
ideas only work when the other side has NO new ideas, is equally unspecific about the
HOW of the few changes it does propose and on too many issues is indistingioshable
from its opponent.
Who is Barack Hussein Obama? We don't really know, and the press has forever
sullied its sacred trust by systematically refusing to help us find out. The darker
suspicion is that Obama is The Wolf, a liberal who will impose big government
socialism upon us at every opportunity. That may come to pass, although the
current economic crisis may prove a blessing in disguise by inhibiting the speed
at which that can occur.
There is, however, a more hopeful view. Obama is on record as saying he wishes
"govern from the center," to build a powerful bipartisan coalition to overcome the
current gridlock malaise in Washington. His first staff appointment, Rep. Rahm
Emanuel as his Chief of Staff, has drawn equal fire from the Republican National
Committee and the MoveOn.org types. When both extremes are disappointed, that
would seem to define centrism (although no one doubts that Emanuel is a
barekuckle Decomratic partisan of Chicago ilk). Appointing a couple of centrist
Republicans to cabinet posts, and reaching out in conciliation to John McCain
would further indicate that Obama's promise was not just hot air rhetoric.
I didn't vote for Obama, but you won't see any immature bumper stickers on
my cars proclaiming "He's Not MY President." Like it or not, he is OUR
president, and I plan to give him every chance, supporting him where I can, and
opposing him by every legal means available where I can't. That's not just my
right, it's my obligation as an American. It's the quintessential meaning of
citizenship. And it's just possible that we aren't the only ones not to know who
Barack Obama is. HE MAY NOT YET KNOW! He's still a young man, and of
limited experience. The future, and those he chooses to listen to going forward
will shape him into the president he will be -- for better or for worse. That may
be neither what the left hopes, nor what the right fears. While he is in the making
I, and many others who did not vote for him, will pray that God grants him wisdom.
patience and moderation. If he becomes his own man, and follows the road not
taken, the United States of America may just be all right after all.