Can we react to this victory not with gloating and insults but with well-earned pride and good humor? Not by using this election as a mandate to claim victory in all contentious issues, but by renewing reasoned debate and intellectual interchange with our conservative counterparts? Can we savor the moment without souring it?
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YES
WE
CAN!
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Yes. And just as we supported Obama tooth and nail in this election, so we must watch his presidency like hawks and respond with pleasure when he lives up to expectations and respond with displeasure when he doesn’t.
Now I would like to see what conservatives have to say.
I posted this in another thread about 4 hours ago, does it count?
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10404096&postcount=160
He says he’ll be listening to us, and I believe he means that. So with as much passion as we put into his election, we must also hold him to the ideals we hired him to uphold.
I have faith that he’ll be approaching his Presidency in much the same way as he approached his Senatorship – by seeking out those who are the most knowledgeable on an issue, Republican or Democrat, and asking them to work with him on common goals. If Barack Obama can reach out to the Dick Lugars, Orrin Hatches and Tom Coburns of the Senate, we should be able to reach out to Brickers, Scyllas and even the Starving Artists of a message board.
Sí se puede.
I agree with keeping gloating in check.
Obama is President-elect of THE UNITED STATES, not president of the blue states.
Let’s move forward.
I am enjoying this moment, though. I really am.
We-e-e-elllllllll… :dubious:
I anticipate some disappointment moving forward, as reality meets our aspirations and better sides.
But that’s ok. I’m not overly-invested in bipartisanship, only in effective governance.
Tomorrow is a new day though – and next January we will have a new Presidency and a renewed Democratic majority. As I’ve said elsewhere, moderate conservatives need to rethink their policy stances, Republican politicos need to retool and those in power face immense challenges.
As for my fellow left of center posters, perhaps they might reconsider their rhetorical stance up to this date. I for one will do that.
That’s it? Just a lot of gloating? Man, it is 6:30 AM the day after the election and nothing has changed so far! :mad:
Fuck, I’m so disappointed.
Eh, I’m not excited enough to gloat. I supported Obama because he wasn’t a Republican, not because I expected much out of him.
I’ll keep the gloating in check if the Right promise not to spend the next 4 years acting as if electing a Democrat is a crime that has to be avenged by the sort of vitriolic witch-hunts the Clintons were subjected to.
And there’s not a chance of that.
Senator Obama won, fair and square. God bless him, he’ll be my president. That doesn’t mean I’ll suddenly support programs and policies I previously opposed, so I won’t be disappointed in the checks and balances that will hold back what I perceive as excesses. But the same could be said about anyone who got elected.
I have never, ever supported or opposed a policy because of the party who created it, and I don’t expect that will change. But I’ll try to keep the debate respectful (I think I mostly have), and Obama will have my support as president, to the extent I don’t see his administration doing something I find fundamentally wrong. I truly hope he’ll reach across the aisle and pursue goals that may not be in lockstep with his party’s orthodoxy, as he has promised. We’ll all soon see, I guess.
You know I really thought I would gloat, and who knows I haven’t gone out into public yet. But as everything fell into place last night, I felt a sense of good will wash over me. Then came McCain’s speech which i found to be very classy (tacky audience aside). I saw some real pain in Palin’s face which I surprisingly found to be pretty sad.
Then Obama spoke. After this I was committed to do my own little part to begin the healing process in this country so that we can begin our work, together. Yes this means good humor and pride in my country and all that jazz. I will try not to allow myself to feel contempt for the electorate anymore, this means not even letting California’s prop 8 sour my mood, not on this day.
I have to believe we will get where we need to go. There will be many stumbles along the way. But if this man could win the highest office in this country, things can’t be all that bad:)
Yes We Can.
You betcha.
How about a massive fucking sigh of relief and a few tears of joy? God damn but I put some blood, sweat and tears into this one!
“Yes We Can” but “Yes We Will” is another matter.
