Posted on 12/18/2008 6:55:42 PM PST by NCjim
On election night, hope was palpable. A sort of jittery excitement filled the air at the Catoosa Democratic Headquarters in Ringgold, Ga. A year ago, the local party was lucky to have 20 people at a breakfast meeting. Now, giddy Obama supporters edged past each other in the crowded banquet hall, sharing smiles and ogling the vast array of T-shirts and buttons. “Your grandparents were right,” read one sticker, “Vote Democratic.”
For decades, this area has been Democratic. That’s the reason we are known for having some of the best public schools around. It’s the reason we have a fabulous library, and a learning center that not only rescues individual educations, but actually boosts the local economy by increasing wages so that it brings in more revenue than it costs taxpayers. Nationally, Democratic values have brought us the social security program that supports the elderly, a public education system that ensures every child in America has the right and responsibility to go to school, help for the mentally ill, assistance for the impoverished and health care for poor children.
Curiously, the Republican Party has managed over time to misconstrue the notion of family values. Somehow a number of Christian voters have been convinced that Christianity is about denying rights to people who don’t believe like we do. Jesus was never into that. Jesus came to heal the sick, bind up the broken hearted and preach good news to the poor.
As the hours passed and the soft drinks disappeared at the election party, it became apparent that Barack Obama would be the next president of the United States. Our excitement was tempered by the memories of the 2000 election. It was not until the election was called with a wide margin that the true celebration began. White Democrats clapped and laughed and danced in the streets, vaguely wondering why the black Democrats had slipped away early. Then the sound of church bells pealed through the chilly air.
For days, the reality of what had taken place was still sinking in. “I can’t stop crying every time I think about it,” wrote my friend in New York, sounding so much like another friend in Hawaii and another in Canada. Suddenly a nation known for its racial divide had leaped from prejudice redneck status to multiculturalism, becoming an inspiration for reconciliation advocates in Europe and all over the world.
Not one to bask long in the glory of a moment, Barack Obama immediately got back to work. Less than one month from the election, he has already chosen most of his officials and cabinet members, including Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State and former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker as top economic advisor. Obama’s choices have thus far proven to be centrists and have sometimes crossed party lines (case in point, keeping Robert Gates as defense chief.)
The task that lies before the president-elect is not an easy one. If the election was hard-won, economic and foreign policy success will be more difficult still. Some have even suggested that the Republicans were relieved not to win this cycle. After all, who wants to shoulder responsibility for the mess that Bush has made? The ship of state is not easy to turn around. It may take a decade or more to recover from the economic devastation of the Bush economy and quagmire in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Then again, maybe it is all easier than it sounds. It doesn’t take a genius to do better than Bush; Obama is probably overqualified. How does one undo eight years of stupid? A lazy but clean solution would be simply to make a list of every policy Bush in enacted, and reverse it. The Patriot Act is a good place to start.
The problems Obama is inheriting are no more daunting than those faced by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. We love and revere FDR because he took on leadership at a time when the nation was utterly devastated. Through creative strokes of genius, FDR not only salvaged the economy; he used the crisis as an opportunity to build infrastructure, spur innovation and strengthen American ideals.
George W. Bush’s legacy as the worst president in history presents an opportunity to the next president. If Barack Obama acts timidly and only tweaks the failed Bush policies, he can expect to be caught in the same quicksand that has brought us to this point. If Obama acts boldly, he can create a legacy as a leader who brought the United States out of depression and war, into a time of peace and prosperity. On the heels of “the worst president ever,” Obama can be the best president yet.
This is the new drumbeat..THE WORST PRESIDENT HISTORY. It’s all the Republicans fault. And why shouldn’t they..nobody ever fights back.
wth? where’s the BARF ALERT! Tag??
What a pile of drek. I’m amazed this woman can write a coherent sentence, given her obvious lack of reasoning ability.
This article certainly needed a “blowing chunks” alert.
>George W. Bush’s legacy as the worst president in history <
some day the gop and some individuals on this forum are going to have to deal with the issue
of the msm’s ad hominem attacks on republicans.
I always fight back about that “worst president in history” calumny. I just say, “Jimmy Carter...ready to give up? Or do you need more examples?”
“How does one undo eight years of stupid? A lazy but clean solution would be simply to make a list of every policy Bush in enacted, and reverse it. The Patriot Act is a good place to start.”
Yeah, the Patriot Act, what a failure...I can’t remember reading anything this cosmically stupid...ever...and I’ve been around a long time...where do nitwits like this come from???
The slavery DemocRATS are back.
What I have read and understood from the Bible is that God and Jesus wants us to help each other by using our own time, treasure and talent and to give from our hearts ("Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." - 2 Corinthians 9:7).
Nowhere have I found anything along the lines of "Go out and institute huge bureaucracies that will take money from some people at the point of a sword and give that money to other people as a politician sees fit."
ROTFLMAO!!!!
If you’re going to post crap like this at least give us a warning. I’ll never get that 30 seconds back.
The author has spent too long and drank too deeply at the Kool-Aid bowl.
Garbage!
He meant to say "savaged the economy." Easy mistake to make.
My grandparents vote Republican (except that one year when grandpa voted for Bo Gritz).
Putting that one in a manila envelope and labeling it Open January, 2012. But it will be easer because we are looking at a classic one-term Carteresk communist screw-up to have to come behind and clean up the disasters.
Been there - Done that.
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