JacksonCalhoun, I must be a moron with you. I did not think the majority of this nation would put the most liberal Senator on record, with his puny experience, in the nation’s highest office. I figured he’d get support, and votes from reactionary backlash type folks, and very liberal folks.
I also thought McCain would be reasonably well trusted, and respected for his extraordinary service.
I guess I thought better of this nation.
I didn’t expect McCain to get fawned all over. But he was so obviously the better choice on every level that I had to believe at the end of the day, he’d win.
Obama appeared -- and has been -- a certifiable catastrophe.
That said, a McCain administration offered a high probability of disaster.
CFR betrayed a willingness to abridge free speech and promote incumbency. McCain-Kennedy betrayed a desire to discount the value of citizenship. McCain-Liebermann betrayed an abject failure to understand a capitalist economy (even after 12 years as the Chairman of the Commerce Committee). Et cetera, et cetera.
Plus, there is this little matter of "presidential temperament". McCain tends to be a vengeful and vindictive man -- not the best temperament for a President.
What we have instead is most certainly worse. But McCain was no day at the beach -- the worst GOP presidential nominee since Tom Dewey.
I think that some of those who voted for Obama did so on “principle” but didn’t really expect such a novice to win.
They wanted the bragging rights of how “good” they were and how they could rip McCain’s administration to shreds because they wanted “the other guy”.
Except he won. And is doing all of the things his critics predicted.
I had a Democrat confess to me in the wake of 9-11 that she was suddenly SO glad that Gore lost (she didn’t believe he would be able to handle such a situation).
I don’t want an “I told you so” moment. I want our country to be safe. I don’t believe our current President has America’s best interests at heart at home or abroad. He smears the previous administration at every turn (alleging they are criminal, even if they are never prosecuted) and shames America for ever getting involved in foreign affairs. We consume too much. We live too well. But he parties every week in the Big House.