Debunking the Obama Election
Posted at 3:17 pm on Wednesday, December 10, 2008, in 2008 Election, and tagged 2008, biden, hillary clinton, mccain, new orleans, nixon, obama.
This post is not going to make readers happy (well, most of them anyway), and it is not supposed to. It is time for some real honest truths in response to the truly historic election that we have witnessed. Well, most of us. I was flat-out drunk-and-stupid that evening.
Obama won — in record fashion, not only because of the obvious (race), but also because he kicked ass and received the most popular votes in American history — in a change election. Although maybe not any democrat could have won, almost any democrat could have, especially any mainstream one.
The election was over in September. I was sitting at the desk in my New Orleans hotel room. The news was on the television behind me and across the room. “The fundamentals of our economy are strong.” It would have been better if John McCain had concluded with “my friends.” It would have sealed it more clearly. It was Monday afternoon, and I was itching for a drink.
Not too long after Obama clinched victory on Election night, my older sister phoned me. “Finally,” she started, “No longer is race an issue in this country…” I told her that I didn’t believe that was necessarily the case. She disagreed with me. We went our separate ways, and haven’t spoken since.
Race is an issue; it will be for the rest of my time on earth. Obama didn’t win Indiana — Indiana (!!!) — because race is not an issue in electoral politics. No, Obama won Indiana because George W. Bush was the president of the United States. The election was a referendum on the Bush presidency, and the voters outwardly condemned it. Yes, Barack Obama ran a near-flawless campaign, and yes, John McCain ran a disastrous one. But had the economy not tanked in September, and in such a profound way, the election would not have been that easy for Obama, it would not have been gift-wrapped, and it would not have simply become an issue of “being overconfident” for the democrat.
The majority of Americans voted against the Bush administration, against Dick Cheney, against Bush/Rove politics, against the Bush war and the Bush economy. This was the incumbency that John McCain was running on. Vote for my party; I’m just like Bush, only older. John Kerry and Al Gore could have won. Hillary Clinton could have won. Howard Dean, Joe Biden, Dick Gephardt and Mark Warner could have won.
And Barack Obama could have won — and he did — but it was not because race is not an issue in American politics anymore. It is because he ran a near-perfect campaign against an opponent caught in a perfect storm. It is because the sitting president is the longest-serving least-popular president in the nation’s history. The election was a resounding and damning repudiation of Bush’s policies.
There is no doubt that Obama’s message resonated — and that millions of people accepted that message as the way forward — but the message was contrasted by Bush. And thank god, because we have a democrat in the White House, and not just any democrat, we’ve got Barack Obama. I couldn’t be prouder. Thank you once again, George W. Bush.
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December 16th, 2008 at 9:51 am
some comments are true…….but if “any” democrat could or would have won, McCain would not have still garnished almost 48% of popular vote. It took someone who appeared extraordinarily different and unique to beat the republicans…………..they would have squeeked out a victory against most democrats.
December 16th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I think that McCain is sitting at just under 46%. Obama bordered on a landslide (at least in modern times).
December 23rd, 2008 at 2:05 pm
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