Thank God it's over!!

[bio]

With the elections said and done, I am a very happy person.

While I'm personally pleased with the outcome, my true happiness comes from the fact that I will no longer have to see or hear another sleazy campaign add for another 3 years or so.

No more pre-recorded cold calls to my house, no more mail saying "Vote for me, you damn sheep!".

I've reached a zen-like state of happiness.

[Rocketdork]

I'm in total agreement. I was impressed that at the end it seemed like they still had respect for one another. It was also nice to see a clear victor.

[miftah]

I've posted the following on a couple of places... I'd post it on my blog and send you all there, but after a software update or something, it fell down, went boom and don't wanna work no more. So it goes here. Don't wanna read it all? Scroll on down, baby.

To My Friends On the Right and On the Left:

On the Wednesday after Election Day in 2004, I had a very difficult time getting out of bed. I was depressed. The failings of the Bush administration that have become apparent to everyone now were blindingly obvious to me then and I really thought I was not alone. Nonetheless, Bush took a second term, and it was up to me to figure out how to live with that fact for next four years. Two days later I quit smoking, and I haven't smoked again since. At least I was going to get healthier.

My friends on this site are not composed exclusively of left-leaning people (Some of my best friends are Republicans...). And while I have been a solid supporter of Obama since spring of 2007, I do consider myself something of a moderate politically. Just as Scott McClellan called the philosophical approach of Karl Rove's "Permanent Campaign" the principle and abiding failure of the Bush administration, I too believe division is getting us nowhere. I think everyone is pretty familiar with the adage "United We Stand, Divided We Fall." The country is headed in the wrong direction because we have been divided too long. A majority of 51% (or even 54%) is hardly a union unto itself.

So to my friends on the right, let me say this: I know it stings. I have felt that sting. We apply a balance of different ideologies and together, through compromise and reason we work together to achieve a more perfect union. We need you as much as you need us because together we become that balance of extremes. I don't resent your passion nor your vigor in debate. I respect it. I know you don't promote your viewpoints and vote for them out of maliciousness. You do it because you care and what you express you do so with the utmost sincerity. It would be offensive of me to suggest otherwise.

If I can give you one piece of advice to help deal with the sting, there was one thought that got me out of bed that November Wednesday, four years ago: The political pendulum is always in motion. And rest assured that just as it has swung left, it will most assuredly swing right again in the future. And it probably should. All that swinging keeps us honest. On both sides of the center.

Oh, and avoid the TV for the next few days. It's going to seem like the media is rubbing it in. Don't worry, they did it to me too in '04. They're like a bunch of children on Christmas morning: freebasing candy canes and opening narrative presents like they're going out of style.

Now, for my many friends on the left: Obama left a note in his speech last night for our friends on the right. He said that he needed them and he seeks to earn their trust. Lets all do him a favor and not get in the way of it.

Yes, we deserve to celebrate. We've earned it. Let it out and savor the moment. If you've followed politics at all, you know the winds of change turn on a dime and the moment slips us far quicker than we'd like.

But once we've settled down a little, let's let go of the resentment we've been filing away for the last eight years. The word I liked hearing the most during the last 24 hours is Post-Partisan. I like the ring of it a lot. It sounds very... functional. If Obama truly means to establish the first government of a post-partisan era, then let's get to work.

A lot of that means we're going to have to stop looking at the people on the other side of the fence like they mean to hurt us. They don't. And truth be told, a lot of them are worried about what we're up to. Let's help them understand without being insulting or condescending or patronizing, okay? We can get a little smug. Let's cooperate instead.

The day-after narrative in the media in the 2006 mid-term elections was that it was the triumph of the middle. Most of the politicians who made inroads that year did so by appealing to the middle. And the truly clever component is the way Obama has floated under the radar without alerting anyone to his true nature as a moderate. Everyone's been floating this idea that he's either too liberal or just liberal enough. But the reality is that he is square in the middle between right and left and THAT and THAT ALONE is why he won.

Sure he wants to restore the former tax rates for the wealthy, but he's also about fiscal responsibility and cutting government. I can see why he might confuse some Republicans as the fiscal policies of the right have gotten a little confused under Bush. But this guy means what he says about reducing waste. He's very pragmatic that way.

Sure he is dedicated to preserving choice in America (a sensitive topic with many of you) but he is also dedicated to defining marriage as a woman and a man (a topic sensitive with the rest of you).

My point is this: if you choose to let one issue define the entirety of your perspective, you run the risk of letting that issue blind you from seeing everything else. Given to such extremes, this runs some very calculable risks.

A student was sitting outside my office today talking on his cell phone. When I am forced to listen to other people's cell phone conversations, I don't consider it eavesdropping. He said to his friend, "Yeah it pissed me off. But you just watch: some hillbilly is going to walk right up to him and slit his throat. And I'll just laugh." True story. Talking to others today, apparently people have been hearing a lot of similar things.

This is gross and a sure sign that the nature of this conflict between left and right has gone on too long. For all that Bush has done, the only time anyone's tried to take him out among his own populace was when that nutter landed his plane in the front lawn of the White House. Oh, and that pretzel almost succeeded... but I'm not sure if snacks count.

If we are to actually function as a nation, the only way forward is to let go of the conflict. To all of my friends, please think about how much you can compromise on your personal political stance without betraying your principles. When you ask for compromise of the other side, ask yourself how much they can do the same, and try to respect their need to not cross that line. Empathize with each other. Look for common ground.

If it seems ridiculous to you that I am actually writing this, please know that it seems pretty ridiculous to me that I have to.

[bugfreezer]

Miftah;

Very impressive, elder statemanship material!

Very well said indeed!

[bio]

Ditto!!

I'd post it on my blog and send you all there, but after a software update or something, it fell down, went boom and don't wanna work no more.

Which one? The one I host or another one (because I can view the one I host just fine.... or is it an internal error behind the login?)

[miftah]

Its the one you host. If you click on any page linked from the front page, it 404s.

[miftah]

Double Post, Punk!

Well, either you fixed it, or its time for me to redress that crack-smoking problem I thought I'd outran. My site is working again.