Time to spread the wealth and slaughter the goats! Election 2008 is in the books.

So, for starters, what is there to be happy about? I can think of something:

I never thought I'd be able to say it, but I lived to see the first non-white guy elected President of the US. If I put aside all of his policies and all the things about him that I dislike, I have to admit ... this one aspect of his election is pretty darn cool. Racism will probably never totally disappear from the human mind ... but America's specific and unique style of racism took a major kick in the stones just now. I gotta admit, that makes me happy.

If I were still working in radio I'd play my favorite Fishbone song and dedicate it to Barack Obama tonight.

Oprah says she hasn't seen this kind of unity since 9/11. Come, now, Oprah, the Obama election isn't a disaster on quite that level, is it? Ha ha.

And there's this: Guys like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have made careers of talking about how racist American society is. What are they going to say now? That in America a black man can never possibly rise any higher than ... President? Time to look for new jobs, Al and Jesse.

I also want to say that you're not going to hear too much doom and gloom from me. We elected a President who's policies I oppose. OK, fine. My fellow conservatives, it's time to regroup, think about what we did wrong, think about what we can do from here, and get on with it. I've never had any respect for all the left-wing crybabies who threatened to leave the country after Bush was elected in 2000 and 2004. What is that crap? "Play my way or I'll take my toys and leave?" Conservatives, now is our chance to really demonstrate the differences between us and them. Liberals can't even be gracious in victory, much less defeat. We hold ourselves to a higher standard. Don't forget it.

This is still a great country. We survived the Presidencies of Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Herbert Hoover and Woodrow Wilson. We can survive this guy, too. Remember, conservatives, we're the optimists. We talk about how strong, generous and free our country is, right? We gotta mean that. We're proud of our country, right? Don't forget that ... even when things don't go our way.

And the thing is, Barack Obama seems pretty optimistic, too. He's just optimistic for the wrong reasons. We're gonna have to out-optimistic the guy. ;)

Now don't get me wrong ... there are things to worry about. I think the real problem here is that the Democrats have picked up a bunch of legislative seats. My biggest fear is that President Obama will manage to get one or two extreme leftists appointed to the Supreme Court, and with little resistance from Congress. Hopefully we can swing both houses of Congress back the other way in 2010. And then elect a real President (black, white or otherwise) in 2012.

So what are the lessons we can take away from Election 2008?

Here's my list:

• Republicans Can't Beat Democrats At Their Own Games ... Part 1
  
  George W. Bush's "compassionate conservatism" turned out to be a code word for "liberalism." His second term was especially disappointing. Bush's 2004 pronouncements about working toward an "ownership society" proved to be empty promises. Instead, he's increased the size of the government, he's created new entitlement programs and he's spent money like John Edwards at a beauty salon.
  
  Bush's push to get the recent bail-out bill passed was probably the last straw. That bill was unpopular with the vast majority of Americans, and it remains so. If it looks like corporate welfare, walks like corporate welfare and talks like corporate welfare, dammit, it probably is corporate welfare.
  
  Bush had only two conservative successes in his second term, and those were the appointments of Judges Roberts and Alito to the SCotUS. And even the Alito selection was a last-minute save after the disastrous Harriet Miers washout.
  
  When Republicans govern like Democrats they give us very little reason to keep electing them.



• Republicans Can't Beat Democrats At Their Own Games ... Part 2
  
  Hey, let's face it, John McCain hasn't really been any better. We all knew he was too liberal from the get-go. And towards the end he got even more liberal. I think his proposal to have the Treasury Department buy up all the crap mortgages was probably the death nell for his campaign.
  
  Why should voters elect a pseudo-socialist when they had a real one available?
  
  So I hope that the lesson the GOP learns is that they have to "dance with who brung 'em," as they say. Clearly Mitt Romney would have been a better choice. And if we'd still lost with Romney, at least we'd have known that we retained our principles in the process.



• What Would Reagan Do?
  
  Look, the neocons have had their shot. And they've cost us an awful lot. You know, eight years ago I didn't even really know what "neoconservative" meant. After the past eight years I've come to believe that a "neocon" is basically a liberal who's pro-Israel and believes in the preemptive strike.
  
  Nothing wrong with loving Israel ... but it ain't enough.
  
  It's time for the GOP to get back to real conservatism. To heck with "compassion." I don't look to the government for "compassion." That's what our families, friends and churches are for. Our government, dammit, is supposed to LEAD US, KEEP US SAVE AND SERVE OUR INTERESTS.
  
  The GOP should, in all things, reference Reaganism. When it comes to policies, candidates, positions and ideology, Reagan is the touchstone. It's not enough to just talk about how awesome Reagan was. The Republican party has to go back to promoting his kind of governance.
  
  And that means decreasing the size of Government, not increasing it.
  
  That means a return to good-old-by-God Trickle Down Economics. The American people won't need the government to take care of them if you free up the marketplace to do what it naturally does, and that's create prosperity.
  
  That means being ready to strike fear in the hearts of those who'd even kill a couple of Americans in a disco in Germany ... much less actually attack us on our own soil.
  
  What would Reagan do? That's what we should do.



• Don't Let The Democrats Co-Opt Conservatism
  
  I saw it in '96 and to a large extent I feel like I've seen it again.
  
  Bill Clinton got elected to a second term by coming to the middle, as the phrase goes. Obama has gotten elected by doing much of the same.
  
  In 2006 Obama was saying that he wanted us out of Iraq immediately. RIGHT NOW. His policy now isn't significantly different from the current administration's policy. He even admitted that the surge worked "beyond our wildest dreams" in September.
  
  He also ran as a tax-cutter, promising lower taxes for "95% of Americans." Look, you know and I know that the math on that doesn't work. It's nonsense. The point, though, is that he ran as a tax-cutter. In spite of his occasional, candid admissions of his socialist ideology, Obama ran ads promising to cut taxes.
  
  He even posed as strong on national defense when he talked about invading Pakistan.
  
  What's that all about?
  
  Clearly the guy said what he had to say to get conservatives to vote for him. Maybe the GOP spent a little too much time focusing on Bill Ayers, ACORN and Joe Biden's gaffes and too little time focusing on Obama's policy inconsistencies.
  
  Yeah, I knew he was inconsistent and you knew he was inconsistent ... but it doesn't look like the message was significantly delivered to "Joe Six-Pack."

So there are my ideas, you can take them for what they're worth. The ramblings of a fat ol' conservative redneck from newly blue Virginia probably don't mean a whole heck of a lot at this point.

I'm gonna wrap this up now. Obama is giving his victory speech and I don't want to miss it. It is, after all, history. And the good Lord knows that the guy gives amazing speeches.

So congratulations to President Elect Barack Obama. Enjoy your first term ... I'll be doing what I can to make sure it's your only one! ;)

Labels: Media, News, Obama Watch, Politics