This isn’t a poke in the eye sort of thing, I am curious to get some specific reaction from the camp that came up short tonight, it is thus far difficult to find this perspective on SDMB.
So how upset are you? How surprised? How supportive do you feel of our new president elect? Are you scared for the fate of our nation?
For the record I thought John McCain’s speech was fantastic, maybe one of the best concession speeches ever, the only blemish was the embarrassing reactions of some of the supporters.
I agree, but maybe it had something to do with not saying “My Friends™” even once.
As an Obama guy myself, I’m curious too. From this side, it feels historic and much bigger than just a typical Election about all the typical issues. It feels like my faith in the principles and ideals of the constitution have been restored. I’ve never felt this way when my pick had won before. It’s not even in the same league… Still, time will tell.
I just flipped over to Fox News for the first time in probably months in order to get a feel for the GOP tone now that the results are in. The pundits are asking questions about how faithful Obama will be to his promise to reach across party lines and be a uniter. They’ve been wondering aloud if McCain might be invited to a cabinet position, perhaps Secretary of State, and also floating other Republican names that might find positions in an Obama White House.
I really hope that the Republicans out there aren’t too bitter and cynical. The reaction of the McCain supporters during his concession was disappointing. If they didn’t feel any sense of promise and optimism from Obama’s speech I’m going to have to assume that they are simply a different species of mammal than I am.
Sure, I will give it a go. I am slightly right of moderate on the Pubbie side. First, congrats. I feel better about President Obama than I ever would in a million years about a possible President Gore or President Kerry. So I am not scared for the future. I don’t trust politicians, Dem or Pub, to do half of what they promise, but that is just the nature of the game.
That being said, I predict a one-term presidency unless the challenger in 2012 is really bad. To quote from Titanic “The ship’s too big with too small a rudder. It doesn’t corner worth a damn”. I don’t know if any president could turn around some of the stuff that is going wrong in this country is such a short time. But as an American I am holding out hope.
I guess most of my fears center around how moderate and nonpartisan Obama actually will be. If he is, I could possibly go Blue. Very, very right edge of Blue, of course. But my fear is that in most cases he will not be, and that scares me a bunch.
My single biggest fear is if he gets to pick a Supreme Court nominee. Typically, when vetting nominees, a favorite question is what SCOTUS decision the nominee thought was one of the best. I personally list Heller as one of my top ones. Obama has given it some lip service, but one gets the feeling he thought it was a bad decision. Oh, and his running mate’s “I wrote the assault weapons ban” quote, which I think might be the single worst piece of legislature in the past few decades (after the DMCA) does not sit well with me.
Ok, to sum up: Moderate Obama = win, Left of Moderate Obama = Epic Fail
I am keeping my fingers crossed.
After a decent nights sleep I don’t feel too bad about it, mainly because I’m not too surprised about the outcome. If he actually vetoes some wacky legislation ( WHICH IS SURE TO COME ) from the loony left then I may have a reason to be optimistic.
Not surprised at all; I felt early on that we’d have a Dem in the White House.
My hope: That the man can actually do what he claims he can do, and restore a little bit of decency to the cesspool that has become our houses of government.
My fear: Jimmy Carter revisited.
My darkest fear: Universal health care. Not because I don’t think that people need health care, but because I beleive it will be run with all of the efficiency and dedication to good service that our government organizations are: None. I don’t know what the solution is, but that ain’t it.
I’m not a rabid pubbie, so I’m not in tears or anything. I hope the man does great things, but that doesn’t make him special. I’d be hoping the same if Nader won.
On further reflection, I am comforted by the fact that Obama only got 52% of the popular vote. (cite: this morning’s articles in both Yahoo.com and msn.com.)
Despite the media cheerleading, and the histrionics on this message board, the country did not panic and run screaming to the far left, at the first hint of recession. That gives me hope for the future.
I can relate to feeling let down by the electorate. My first ever vote was Kerry.
I think Obama does have a demonstrated history of bipartisanship – he has discussed his lament of the breakdown of trust between parties in his books, and he has promised in his acceptance speech that he will listen especially hard when the American people don’t agree with him. If he lives up to this promise, it will be a great boon to this country. I do think this is something that very strongly differentiates him from Bush, and, as such, I think it will help temper the years ahead rather than making the division stronger.
This is why I think Republicans and conservatives have little to fear from Obama. He’s not going to stand up and say, ‘‘Either you’re with us or you’re against us.’’ When YOU march on the capital, I firmly believe he will meet you at the doorstep and listen to your concerns.
I believe this because ideologically I am very similar to Obama – we are both personally very liberal, but always willing to listen. Obama has a conscience that is orientated toward the will of the people. I feel that over the last 8 years there was a complete shut out of nearly 50% of the U.S. population and our concerns. It is my fervent belief (and hope) that Obama will not shut anyone out.
(For what it’s worth, I also think McCain would have listened to the other side too. He didn’t make that evident in his campaign, but he has a long-established record of bipartisanship.)
I’m not a McCain supporter, I voted Barr as I consider myself a libertarian leaning Republican, and as bad as I find B.O. to be, I still couldn’t vote for McCain. It is obvious to me that Obama actively disagrees with the fundamental philosophy behind the Constitution, and that worries me. Just as obviously, we survived Carter and we’ll survive this. I think it would be difficult to rise to the levels of ineptitude Carter displayed.
However, I intend to extend to the marxist Obamanation the exact same level of respect and open-minded curtesy, the same assumption of goodwill, positive motivations, and honest difference of opinion, the same reasoned and modest rhetoric, which my friends on the left have extended President Bush the last 8 years.
I am also cautiously optimistic. The Obamanation has two years at least, and maybe four, to bring about ‘Change We Can Believe In’. If, as I suspect, his greed-and-jealousy based economic and fiscal policies result in the economy tanking further, and if (this is the much bigger if) the GOP can get its shit together and focus on individual liberty and free markets bringing prosperity, we may have a rennaisance in two or four years.
McCain didn’t really do too badly in the popular vote numbers, but I think his negative campaign, Sarah Palin, and lack of good or concrete solutions did him in.
I think McCain wouldn’t have been as bad as many people thought, and Obama won’t be nearly as good as many think.
Another mild McCain supporter here. Not surprised, not afraid. Even if Obama turns out to be a horrible president (which I don’t necessarily believe he will), the country will survive same as it always has.
And since I’m a glass-is-half-full type of person, I’ve found myself going around with kind of a happy glow this morning. This country elected a black man as President last night!! That’s HUGE!! I can’t be anything but excited about that. It makes me proud of this country, even if I don’t agree with most of his policies.