Addition to Previous Post

I have the habit of allowing generalities to oftentimes sound like full sweeps over a topic, and I want to clear up that and say the criticisms of the groups I mentioned earlier are not an indication that I feel that way in regards to all members of all of those groups. Obviously I am as idealistic as anyone, and I suppose what I spent a long time trying to say is that it would be great if all voters were as informed as those of us here.

I also recalled that Freddie had echoed the point that my friend at work made yesterday, about not having considered the blind alligence black votes. I've far more faith in Freddie than the friend, and, so, there must be some real validity there. I suppose we all perceive different aspects of a thing, and our vote is the summation of those observations. If the young who exist today were all as smart and informed as Freddie I would not only not question certain aspects of the result but call my entire opinion into complete question.

Is the Civil War Over At Last

I appreciate these comments by Thomas Friedman. I could almost cry. Is the Civil War finally over?



By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: November 4, 2008
And so it came to pass that on Nov. 4, 2008, shortly after 11 p.m. Eastern time, the American Civil War ended, as a black man — Barack Hussein Obama — won enough electoral votes to become president of the United States.
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Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
Thomas L. Friedman
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A civil war that, in many ways, began at Bull Run, Virginia, on July 21, 1861, ended 147 years later via a ballot box in the very same state. For nothing more symbolically illustrated the final chapter of America’s Civil War than the fact that the Commonwealth of Virginia — the state that once exalted slavery and whose secession from the Union in 1861 gave the Confederacy both strategic weight and its commanding general — voted Democratic, thus assuring that Barack Obama would become the 44th president of the United States.

This moment was necessary, for despite a century of civil rights legislation, judicial interventions and social activism — despite Brown v. Board of Education, Martin Luther King’s I-have-a-dream crusade and the 1964 Civil Rights Act — the Civil War could never truly be said to have ended until America’s white majority actually elected an African-American as president.

That is what happened Tuesday night and that is why we awake this morning to a different country. The struggle for equal rights is far from over, but we start afresh now from a whole new baseline. Let every child and every citizen and every new immigrant know that from this day forward everything really is possible in America.

How did Obama pull it off? To be sure, it probably took a once-in-a-century economic crisis to get enough white people to vote for a black man. And to be sure, Obama’s better organization, calm manner, mellifluous speaking style and unthreatening message of “change” all served him well.

But there also may have been something of a “Buffett effect” that countered the supposed “Bradley effect” — white voters telling pollsters they’d vote for Obama but then voting for the white guy. The Buffett effect was just the opposite. It was white conservatives telling the guys in the men’s grill at the country club that they were voting for John McCain, but then quietly going into the booth and voting for Obama, even though they knew it would mean higher taxes.
Why? Some did it because they sensed how inspired and hopeful their kids were about an Obama presidency, and they not only didn’t want to dash those hopes, they secretly wanted to share them. Others intuitively embraced Warren Buffett’s view that if you are rich and successful today, it is first and foremost because you were lucky enough to be born in America at this time — and never forget that. So, we need to get back to fixing our country — we need a president who can unify us for nation-building at home.

And somewhere they also knew that after the abysmal performance of the Bush team, there had to be consequences for the Republican Party. Electing McCain now would have, in some way, meant rewarding incompetence. It would have made a mockery of accountability in government and unleashed a wave of cynicism in America that would have been deeply corrosive.

Obama will always be our first black president. But can he be one of our few great presidents? He is going to have his chance because our greatest presidents are those who assumed the office at some of our darkest hours and at the bottom of some of our deepest holes.

Building Castles on Wet Sand, Redux

Today Barack Obama's victory has had some time to begin sinking in, and it is quite clear that his supporters and the media are determined to put a thick coat of shiny varnish over the reality of the "why" of his election. Obama's acceptance speech was, of course, filled with the sweeping generalities and grandiose phrases that he has become known for and that his supporters swoon over. It was interesting to notice that he began his 2012 campaign two months before he even begins serving his first term. He used the language typical of politicians, saying that, "It may take more than a year. It may take more than one term." I never suspected otherwise.

The crowd in Chicago was mostly filled with the demographic that voted him into office--the young, the black, and the Latino. Pardon my redundancy, as I spent some time on these three groups in my previous post, but I feel a need to spend a moment on them again.

The young: It is often said that our future hopes lie in America's youth, and I cannot disagree with that, since there is no alternate group in which hope could stand much of a chance of carrying on in. Certainly one would be foolish to lie their future hopes in the very old or the dead. In other words, the statement is a common sense phrase which people put significance into, one of the slogans of humanity that has been repeated so often that it has become a cliche, devoid of any real meaning. The proof of that is in the fact that, in this election, Obama's supporters have glossed over the axiom, and in doing so have overlooked both the meaning of the phrase as well as some key words within it.

What the phrase means is that we, as adults, are obligated to teach our children the truth, regardless of who we think should be the victor of history or who appears to be the enemy within it; that in our childrens' upbringing we should hold the apparent victor to task just as diligently as we once did the enemy; and that it goes assumed that the torch of this knowledge, experience, and tremendous obligation is something to be passed to them only after they have learned the lessons that only experience and truth can supply.

But, in electing Obama, the Left has not put their future in youth, but handed them the keys to the family car without so much as one single driving lesson. They have, along with so much else, closed their eyes to the key word "future" in the statement. Instead they have, in their desperation to envoke that still undefined mantra "change," tried to smuggle the future into the present. They have cashed in all of their chips on not an improbable but an impossible long shot. If any of these people had spent fifteen minutes alone with a typical young person aged 18-25, perhaps even 30, they would have quickly seen that they were on the verge of handing the largest responsibility of American's collective to a bunch of people who are utterly uninterested in such matters as government, history, and politics; who have spent a woefully inadequate amount of time pursuing real facts and boring, historical truths; a group whose decisons are largely based on hormones, alcohol, and a leftover '60's and American Idol mindset that is one part logic and nine parts ignorant, excitable, herd-mentality irresponsibility. (If nothing else, my own reading of Neitzsche's works forever scorched in my mind the destructive power of herd mentalities.) The Left complains about the sub-par public education system--and, on this, I fully agree with them; the education cirriculum in the US is terribly below average, and the schools seem to focus on pointless activities which condone totally barbaric and asinine social hierarchies which should make Lord of the Flies not only required reading but required understanding--yet entrusts the future of this country to young people whose summation of knowledge was chiseled out by that same system.

But the verge has been literally jumped over and it is too late. Unfortunately, these inexcusable naive Leftists have taken the rest of us over the cliff with them. How foolish is the man who cannot check his intellectual knowledge with both experience and common sense; yet how much more foolish is he who entrusts to babes the summation of all of these. The person who has read a thousand books and lives by them alone is ten times more ignorant than the one who has never read one and follows him. The youth in the US is not progressing, it is regressing towards absolute ignorance; and it is the chronically foolish Left and its propogandist professors who are partly to blame. They equate their petty intellectualism with real knowledge, which is further proof that some people should not pick up and try to read deep books. Because when they do they never get more than a few pages in, yet they go ahead and figure it is enough to begin to believe in the myths propogated by themselves. Their own yellow highlighted, eager false starts in abandoned thrift store novels which fall silent after a few pages is a direct mirror image of and a condemnation against their youth's closeted, short-term worldview. Soon the youth's attention will be drawn elsewhere, and we will--again--be stuck with the liberal's decision made for all of us. Terrible tyrranies have been borne and prospered on such scenarios as these.

The Black: I will not spend much time on this topic, since there will be those who know the reality of the state of blacks today and those who will refuse to see it. With that said, this election has been the most racist in recent American history. The 96-98% turnout of blacks to vote in this election cycle for Barack Obama was the first indicator that race was indeed going to play a pivitol role in the election--but for the oppostie reasons the Left has for years assumed. I will go no further into already unchallenged ground on this point except to say that if it were not for typical black people and their ignorant, white, self-hating supporters this election would have been overwhelmingly red. Blacks have been programmed into believing that white people are living the easy life while they still constantly struggle against white oppression--nevermind the real history of English blacks who in the nineteenth century owned black slaves, or the large number of blacks who sold their own relatives into slavery off Africa's ivory coast way back when--and now they somehow think Barack Obama is going to pay their bills for them. Christ. I hate Bill Clinton. He was the "brilliant" man who shucked and jived under-achievers into biting off more than they could chew and told them they deserved it, for, apparently, no other reasons than simply existing. If you are working at Burger King and want a $200,000 house, you need to work a better job, not wait for the gubberment to send you some free money.

I will not debate liberals because I already know they have no grasp on reality, but I will say that, in the last several days, the overwhelming number of blacks I have heard speak say things like, "Obama will give us our money back,"--but never venture to explain who has stolen their money, why, or who it is exactly should be giving it back to them--"Obama will pay our bills and mortgage," and, "We have won." (What, exactly, they have won, again, remains vague.) What I do know is that these folks have won a train ticket to reality, and the trip begins in January 2009. Liberal Leftisits are going to be aboard as well, whether they like it or not--but, considering they are so eager to embrace Socialism, it would be illogical to assume they desire a choice, right?

Fact: there are many, many more racist blacks today than there are whites. Anyone care to challenge me? Bring it on. White liberals have, stupidly, helped propagate a myth that needs to die. The only set more detestible than welfare scum hiding behind a thin vaneer of pride--ie, racism--is the absolutely ignorant, clueless liberals who champion their rape of responsibility. Democrats, I tell you what the esteeemed Obama's preacher once told his flock: the chickens have come home to roost. And it will be up to you to feed them, give them money, and wipe up their shit. Maybe you and Brad Pitt can sink every dime you have into giving people who are too lazy to work a brand-new house to let go to waste. I will not.

I have challenged numerous liberals to come witness the ignorant, "gimme" mindset of the majority of blacks in my workplace and my wife's, and my challenge has gone unanswered. Liberals--today's liberals--would much rather pretend they have helped right a wrong as opposed to the reality of their actions, which has utterly given fuel and false testimony to a wrong. The truth is that the black community is going extinct at its own hand. Liberals, in their political correctness and naivity, are pretending otherwise. They like to pretend that it is somehow white people's fault. These people are absolute fools. Period. Even Obama does not subscribe to such idiocy; and he has, to his credit, called out blacks numerous times for their blatant irresponsibility. But, thanks to liberals, they are not listening.

Liberals only think they are smart. They do not even have the basics down, yet they are jumping up into the realm of those who spend all of their free time poring over such polemics as they think to understand; and they really think that the parasitic, ignorant, illiterate Kool-Aid drinkers have any ground to stand upon whatsoever. Really? Well, where are you? I will tell you where--silent, slinking, and falling in line with the mythology of Amerika instead of the reality of America.

These idiots still think it is the 1960's, and they are too blind to realize that that era has reversed itself into an apologetic for black self-destruction. Just yesterday, an anonymous friend said to me, in response to the proposition that blacks were blindly voting black, "I have never thought of that." Wow. Are you serious? How naive are our supposed uber-intelligent? More than I had even feared.

Point in fact is that the myth of white oppression was vanquished last night. As the black comedian Wanda Sykes said, when speculating on the election of a black president, "We'll no longer be able to blame the man when we are the man."

The Latinos: When a majority of a people who are essentially skimming off the prosperity of others without suffering any consequences are considered an important factor in an election, then both the election and the objective of that election should be brought into serious question. But of course it was not. Obama has no intentions to seal the borders against illegal aliens, and that is why the Mexicans turned out for him.

If any supposed historian has ever heard of a little old empire named Rome, raise your hand. Plenty of expostulation has gone into what brought about the collapse of the Roman Empire, but historians and archaeologists are overwhelmingly in agreement that among the contributing factors was that of unopposed invasion. What this means is that people from foreign provinces waltzed their way into Rome to live--much as the Latinos are now invading the US--and they (as we currently are) were totally acquiescent to the invasion. In other words, Rome--the world's greatest empire--fell, and, according to the current mindsets of this Republic, so will we.

In summation, it is ironic that the Leftist liberals have continued to fall for the myth that their own elite have created in modern times. In the meantime, most intelligent people are lamenting the fact that a black man has been elected president on a silent racist platform, empty rhetoric, and the hypocritical self-destruction of his own self-imposed raison de 'tere.

Celebrations of Obama's Victory

Besides electing an African American as president, what is stirring about last night is the celebrations of Obama's election across the country and even the world. I do not know how common these sorts of celebrations are in presidential elections, but I assume such a reaction usually does not happen.

I think these celebrations are worthy because they indicate a high level of interest among people in the direction of the country.

However, the most striking celebration for me was in front of the White House. Many people gathered to boisterously yell in support of Obama. What I like about this image is that it occurred at the very place where George W. Bush lives. For me, it was a way of getting in his face and telling him loud and clear that we disapprove of the ruin and shame he has brought to this country. It was a good feeling to see my fellow citizens sending that message to this buffoon. I only hope he was there at the White House and took a moment to look out at the celebration to see how happy we are to get rid of him.

George W. Bush has been nothing but an embarassment to this country, and I hope on January 20 when the bum officially leaves Washington, he goes back to Texas and we never see him again!

Great Election Summary

Yes, We Did: America Finally Chose To Practice What It Preaches To The Rest Of The Worldby E.J. Dionne, Jr.



WASHINGTON -- Yes, it is time to hope again.

Time to hope that the era of racial backlash and wedge politics is over. Time to imagine that the patriotism of dissenters will no longer be questioned and that the world will no longer be divided between "values voters" and those without a moral compass. Time to expect that ideological labels will no longer be enough to disqualify a politician.

Above all, it is time to celebrate the country's wholehearted embrace of democracy reflected in the intense engagement of Americans in this campaign and the outpouring to the polls all over the nation. For years, we have spoken of bringing free elections to the rest of the world even as we cynically mocked our own ways of doing politics. Tuesday, we chose to practice what we have been preaching.

Barack Obama's sweeping electoral victory cannot be dismissed merely as a popular reaction to an economic crisis or as a verdict on an unpopular president, though the judgment rendered on President Bush is important.

In choosing Obama and a strongly Democratic Congress, the country put a definitive end to a conservative era rooted in three myths: that a party could govern successfully while constantly denigrating government's role; that Americans were divided in an irrepressible moral conflict pitting a"real America" against some pale imitation; and that market capitalism could succeed without an active government regulating it in the public interest and modestly redistributing income to temper inequalities.

John McCain believed he could win by attacking Obama as a "socialist" who had said he would "spread the wealth around." But a substantial majority rather likes spreading the wealth if doing so means health coverage, pensions and college opportunities for all, or asking the wealthy to bear a slightly larger share of the tax burden.

A Day I'll Always Remember

November 4, 2008 TUESDAY

I am at the Pelham Civic Center at 6:15. The line is not as long as I expected. I am done voting by 7:15.

I start watching TV around 5 before any polls are closed.

Indiana is close early so there is no early projection.

CNN says early that their exit polls show that the 61% of Americans say that the economy is the number 1 issue. That’s a strong early sign that it will be a big night for the party of the people. The second biggest issue is Iraq, and Obama wins that issue!

Around 7 states start being called as expected. No upsets early.

At about 7:15 comes projections that Obama will win Pennsylvania. How big this is!

Kay Hagan destroys Liddy Dole in N.C. That is great. This is the seat formerly held by segregationist Jesse Helms.

Just before 8 CNN calls Alabama for McCain.

At 8 comes the predicted New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

At 8:15 Georgia is called for McCain. I was hoping that Obama would be more competitive there.

I watch my TV while Moyna is in the bedroom watching hers.

Mitch McConnell wins reelection in Kentucky. That’s too bad.

At some point ABC calls Ohio for Obama. It’s over around 8:25. For all practical purposes, it’s over. How satisfying. I’ll stay up to watch Big Mac’s concession speech.

We hear that the McCain party in Alabama is in Mountain Brook. How appropriate.

Occasionally I flip to FOX and I laugh and laugh at those fools literally babbling over their crushing loss.

There is talk of the damaged brand of the Republican Party. I love it! I have despised the Republican Party for 40 years. I’ve waited 40 years for this and I am going to enjoy every minute of it.

At 8:36 ABC calls New Mexico for Obama. Big!

At 8:37 CNN calls Ohio for Obama.

It’s over for Old Man McCain. Maybe he should quit the Senate and move into assisted living. Cindy can afford it.

Lindsay Graham wins reelection in South Carolina. McCain’s buddy Graham returns to the Senate. He and McConnell are my most despised Senators.

At McCain headquarters in Phoenix the TVs are turned off as Hank Williams, Jr. sings for the losers. He sounds so mournful.

The American people want competence finally over identity politics, sham and Roveian division.

The people didn’t buy the McCain maverick bit. He’s just another Republican and would merely continue the Bush policies. That’s the truth. They didn’t buy the lie that McCain would bring change. The people weren’t fooled.

Obama outhustled and outworked his opponent. More important, he outsmarted his opponent, and he took advantage of McCain’s mistakes, the biggest being the selection of Palin, not being able to separate himself from Bush, and foolishly saying just before the Wall Street meltdown that the fundaments of the economy were strong.

The base of the disgraced Republican Party is mostly in the former slave-holding states.and a few Midwestern states. It is no accident that the Old Confederacy is the center of the Republican Party.

You compare the Republican gathering at the Biltmore Resort in Arizona and the throng at Grant Park gathering for Obama. It was in Grant Park in 1968 when the Democrat Party fell apart. This is sweet, sweet revenge. Democrats meet in a park; Republicans meet at an expensive hotel and in Mountain Brook. I go with the party of the people.

THE HUN GOES DOWN TONIGHT!

THE REAL AMERICA IS THE DIVERSE CROWD AT GRANT PARK. MCCAIN AND PALIN’S REAL AMERICA OF JOE THE PLUMBER IS FADING. If the Republicans have any sense, which I doubt, they’ll take down their White Only sign.

At 9 CNN calls Iowa for Obama.

One of the GOP apologists says it’s over. You bet it’s over!

Obama is a centrist. Even Republicans are saying tonight that the usual Republicans nonsense about Obama being extreme and a socialist is not true. Duh!

The youth vote goes strongly for the party of the people. This bodes well for the future of the party and spells doom for the GOP.

Evidence shows that Obama has taken the Democratic message to the suburbs. The Republicans are fading in the suburbs. Margins in the suburbs are trending strongly Democratic.

We cannot say that this country has transcended race, but this is a big step forward---a HUGE step forward. This win by Obama does not erase the stain of race from our nation’s history, yet we must celebrate this great happening.

David Gergen says a new order is emerging in this country: people of color, the youth vote, resurgent progressivism. Obama understands this; McCain is clueless. Whitey can’t win by himself anymore.

But the white male voters in the Confederate states are still here. Take this demographic away, and the GOP might as well relocate to Alaska.

The people this year demanded change. What Obama had to do was to reassure the voters that he could be trusted and that he was ready to be Commander in Chief. Mission accomplished. Everything he did was always smooth, calm, and reassuring. He ran a brilliant campaign.

AT 10 P.M. CNN PROJECTS THAT OBAMA WILL BE ELECTED. WHAT A GREAT MOMENT! WHAT A GREAT MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF THIS COUNTRY!!! I AM SO HAPPY.

A man of the people, a man of color, a Democrat will be the next president of the United States.

We see joyous celebrations all over the country.

Freddy calls and we jointly celebrate on the phone. How wonderful. Yes, I never thought I would live to see this day. It’s unbelievable.

John McCain gives a gracious concession speech. I give him credit for this. McCain kindly mentions Obama’s grandmother. This is the first good speech I’ve ever heard McCain deliver.

Let us hope that the country can come together.

Republican Ed Rollins says that Obama ran the best campaign he’s seen in 40 years of politics. He did not make a single mistake. He ran a modern campaign, combining organization with the internet and other technology. He has a list of volunteers that any other candidate would kill for.

It’s a new day in the United States of America.

We cracked the sound barrier as a country tonight.

David Gergen makes the point that with the additional states that Obama gained over Kerry in ’04, he will go to Washington as a national president. This is a victory of the masses, not a narrow liberal victory. Of course, Obama will govern as a centrist, which he always has been.

McCain’s country of Joe the Plumber is obsolete. On TV I am watching celebrations all over the country including in front of the White House. It’s like New Year’s Eve. We have overcome.

The body politic in this country has changed overnight.

Just before 11 p.m. here comes the Obama family before the hundreds of thousands in Chicago. What a moment! We see the new President-Elect. It’s electric. I wish I were there.

Change has come to America says our winner.

The President-Elect delivers an inspiring speech. It’s time for a new spirit in this country. It’s time for change. It’s time to get going.

A new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

I listen to this speech and all I can say is “WOW!” It is stunning. It’s a new day in the United States of America.

I go to bed tonight proud and happy for my country. It’s great to be an American.

Barack Obama, John McCain and the Language of Race

This article argues that the Republicans use race-laden language against Obama, which has its roots in the history of the South.

BY Brent Staples

It was not that long ago that black people in the Deep South could be beaten or killed for seeking the right to vote, talking back to the wrong white man or failing to give way on the sidewalk. People of color who violated these and other proscriptions could be designated “uppity niggers” and subjected to acts of violence and intimidation that were meant to dissuade others from following their examples.

The term “uppity” was applied to affluent black people, who sometimes paid a horrific price for owning nicer homes, cars or more successful businesses than whites. Race-based wealth envy was a common trigger for burnings, lynchings and cataclysmic episodes of violence like the Tulsa race riot of 1921, in which a white mob nearly eradicated the prosperous black community of Greenwood.

Forms of eloquence and assertiveness that were viewed as laudable among whites were seen as positively mutinous when practiced by people of color. As such, black men and women who looked white people squarely in the eye — and argued with them about things that mattered — were declared a threat to the racial order and persecuted whenever possible.

This obsession with black subservience was based in nostalgia for slavery. No sane person would openly express such a sentiment today. But the discomfort with certain forms of black assertiveness is too deeply rooted in the national psyche — and the national language — to just disappear. It has been a persistent theme in the public discourse since Barack Obama became a plausible candidate for the presidency.

A blatant example surfaced earlier this month, when a Georgia Republican, Representative Lynn Westmoreland, described the Obamas as “uppity” in response to a reporter’s question. Mr. Westmoreland, who actually stood by the term when given a chance to retreat, later tried to excuse himself by saying that the dictionary definition carried no racial meaning. That seems implausible. Mr. Westmoreland is from the South, where the vernacular meaning of the word has always been clear.

The Jim Crow South institutionalized racial paternalism in its newspapers, which typically denied black adults the courtesy titles of Mr. and Mrs. — and reduced them to children by calling them by first names only. Representative Geoff Davis, Republican of Kentucky, succumbed to the old language earlier this year when describing what he viewed as Mr. Obama’s lack of preparedness to handle nuclear policy. “That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button,” he said.

In the Old South, black men and women who were competent, confident speakers on matters of importance were termed “disrespectful,” the implication being that all good Negroes bowed, scraped, grinned and deferred to their white betters.

In what is probably a harbinger of things to come, the McCain campaign has already run a commercial that carries a similar intimation, accusing Mr. Obama of being “disrespectful” to Sarah Palin. The argument is muted, but its racial antecedents are very clear.

The throwback references that have surfaced in the campaign suggest that Republicans are fighting on racial grounds, even when express references to race are not evident. In a replay of elections past, the G.O.P. will try to leverage racial ghosts and fears without getting its hands visibly dirty. The Democrats try to parry in customary ways.

Mr. Obama seems to understand that he is always an utterance away from a statement — or a phrase — that could transform him in a campaign ad from the affable, rational and racially ambiguous candidate into the archetypical angry black man who scares off the white vote. His caution is evident from the way he sifts and searches the language as he speaks, stepping around words that might push him into the danger zone.

These maneuvers are often painful to watch. The troubling part is that they are necessary.