In a previous blog post, I discussed some ways that the GOP needs to evaluate itself. Truth is, Obama won by a fairly large margin. There are several ways that he did so.
The first reason, in my opinion, is that voters were tired of Republican rule. I am a Republican. I could never vote for a Democrat in a state or national election. I may be narrow-minded for making such a statement, but a vote for a Democrat in any state or national election is more than a vote just for that candidate. This will put forth an agenda that I, as a Conservative, could not endorse. Those who voted for any of the “Naifeh Republicans” (if you are from outside Tennessee you may not understand unless you investigate) indirectly helped advance the liberal agenda. However, many Americans, including me, were tired of what was passing as Conservatism. The Republican rule has been far from Conservative both socially and fiscally. Others had their own pet peeves about what has come from Republican rule.
The second reason is that Republicans have been acting more like Democrats. The Republican Party used to be the party of small government. One would be hard pressed to argue that the Bush White House was for smaller government. The one smaller government idea that I can point to is lower taxes. There were very little other gains. I want to clarify that Republicans and Democrats are really not all that close in philosophy, but I do want to point out that the Republicans gained near absolute power in the only way you can in a republic. That near absolute power corrupted nearly absolutely. We were acting like those same corrupt Democrats that we despise.
The third reason is that Obama capitalized on a two-fold message. HOPE and CHANGE. Americans felt that things were getting bad because of debt and economic problems of our country. They were right. Americans felt that Republicans (especially President Bush) were to blame. They were only partially right. It was a bad time to be an incumbent or a Republican. It was a doubly bad time to be both a Republican and an incumbent. That message of HOPE and CHANGE was something that citizens (Conservative, Liberal, and Moderate) were willing to choose.
The fourth reason is that the mainstream media had a love affair with Obama. The media loves someone who can talk a good game. The media equally loves someone who is a Liberal. Obama met both qualifications. Even parody shows failed to go after Obama. Was it that these people were scared of being called a racist or just in love with Obama? I believe that it was more love, but nonetheless, a fear of being marked as racist had to be in their minds.
The fifth reason, the biggest reason, is that the American public does not have a clue what is going on. A Zogby poll of Obama supporters showed that Obama supporters are… shall we say… lacking in “intellectual fortitude.” Did I just call Obama supporters stupid? I will say that Obama supporters either have a screwed up ideology that does not jive with what it means to live in a republic or to be American, or they ARE stupid lacking in “intellectual fortitude.”
The results of the Zogby poll were startling. I teach a computer class. My students have tests that they take. Some of them refuse to take the tests seriously and they take a 100 question multiple choice test with four possible answers, and they make a 25 on average. If they make a 30, I know that they probably guessed on most, but they knew an answer or two. If they make below a 20, it almost seems as if they sabotaged their answers. In this Zogby poll, Obama fans showed they had no clue what was going on. With a 50-50 shot, more than 57 percent did not know that the Democrats control Congress. That question must have been below their pay-grade. When asked about which of the four Presidential or Vice-Presidential candidates quit a previous campaign because of plagiarism (that is a 25 percent chance for all of you Obama supporters), over 80 percent missed the question. Furthermore, when asked which of the four candidates said he or she would bankrupt the coal industry and cause prices to skyrocket (still a 25 percent chance for you Obama supporters… ahh heck with it, can they even read this?), more than 88 percent did not know that this was Obama.
But by golly (re-read that in a Palinesque accent), they knew all of the dirt on the Republicans. More than 86 percent knew that Palin was the one that had $150,000 spent on her wardrobe by the GOP. Nearly 94 percent knew that Palin had a pregnant teenage daughter. Oh, and 87 percent “knew” that Palin stated that she could see Russia from her house (which by the way was not Palin, but Tina Fey).
Sadly, McCain was chosen by Republicans that had about the same amount of “intellectual fortitude.” Well, maybe not quite that bad, but there were definitely better choices.
*** The above is simply a piece saying that Obama supporters and even those who chose McCain as the Republican nominee as a whole did not have a grasp on issues. Obama supporters simply wanted “change” whatever that means (and which we may soon find out). McCain supporters simply wanted someone enough like the Democrats that he could win. I guess that backfired didn’t it? ***
Here are some other reads on the subject and the fallout:
http://www.howobamagotelected.com/
http://libertarianrepublican.blogspot.com/2008/11/some-conservatives-actually-helped-to.html
http://www.creativeminorityreport.com/2008/11/republican-party-or-donner-party.html