A Lot To Live Up To
2008 has been a remarkable year. Not only has this year been a new chapter in my life for many reasons, but it’s been a milestone in American politics.
The last 8 years have been… uh, well, you were there. I can see these times being referred to as the “Bush Years” in history books. It will sound something like this: “Characterized by two unpopular wars, poor economic conditions, and an overall feeling of stagnation, the Bush Years mark a time when America wanted change. This period was followed by… **INSERT HOW OBAMA PERFORMS HERE** …”
Eight years ago actually feels like a long, long time. My first serious interest in politics began during the end of the Clinton administration. It was a very scandalous time, and I recall that mind-blowing moment when Clinton uttered the phrase “it depends on what the definition of the word is, is.” I was instantly hooked on politics at that moment.
It was the new Millennium and I was finishing up high school in a very, very conservative part of the country. A small, rural North Dakota town. I had a Government class and I will never forget how biased and opinionated the teacher was. He would start each class by summarizing everything his hero, Rush Limbaugh, had said on the radio during his drive into school from Valley City. The worst part was that my classmates seemed to be 95% conservative-leaning and 5% liberal-leaning. So no one would stand up and fight for the opposing view. I got really frustrated when for whatever reason, we only watched the debates from the Republican primaries in class and did not include the Democratic debates.
A wise English/Journalism teacher instructed me around the same time while writing research papers to always devote a portion to explaining the opposing view. That really stuck with me and could very well be a big part of why I’m such a centrist. When I see legitimate newspapers not following that simple rule, it really annoys me quite a bit.
So back to Government class… I can recall my classmates’ reactions during the Bush/Gore debates which we watched in class. They really did not like Gore’s temperament, they found him arrogant and were turned off by him for that reason alone. Who can forget the “I invented the internet” line? They sure got a kick out of that and it turned into a great Gore-bashing session rather than an impartial high school Government class. Of course, the teacher only fed those superficial reactions rather than diverting them to actual issues. I have a feeling that was a really bad lesson for some students and they may have applied the same decision-making to this election. But many of them were very smart, much smarter than I was, it certainly doesn’t mean you’re stupid if you’re conservative. Seeing North Dakota listed as a swing state in the polls right before the election was quite the surprise.
What really aggravated me in this Government class was when the teacher assigned weekly reports on the election, and he would pick articles from NewsMax.com for us to write about. If you’re not familiar with NewsMax, it is not and has never been a fair and balanced news source. It is pro-conservative all the way and clearly so. When I asked if I could choose a different news source, I was told to stick to the assignment. I took that as a no at first, but realized it wasn’t necessarily a no.
The truth is, I actually did agree with a lot of the things Bush was saying in that campaign, but I just found the bias and unfairness to be shocking. So I played the devil’s advocate, and in our mock votes and debates I fought for the Gore side as hard as I could. I dissented by using MSNBC and CNN articles on the same topic as the assigned NewsMax article, even though it wasn’t the assignment. I turned in the paper, expecting him to comment on my refusal to follow instruction, but he never did. I kept getting A’s and he never said a word to me about it.
I reflect on that now and wonder if that was what he wanted us to do all along, to see through the bias and think for ourselves. I wasn’t the best student in school, but I have to say that was one of my prouder moments when I finished up the year so well in that class. Ironically, I was one of only a couple of students in the class who wasn’t old enough that November to vote in the actual election.
Then I came to Minnesota for art school, and found things to be quite the opposite politically. I had two or three teachers who were very preachy about politics during classes. The Iraq war was just beginning and it had them very concerned. One instructor, who was of British descent, reflected on his childhood during World War II in England, and he broke down into tears in front of the whole class. He urged us to protest this new war in Iraq and think of the innocent civilians. He said there were other ways to rectify 9/11. The whole class strongly agreed and most of their arguments were complete conspiracy. Although the instructor’s emotions were certainly touching, I sat there thinking to myself, feeling like I needed to be the devil’s advocate again. In a strange twist of deja vu, I had a class a couple of quarters later where the instructor asked us to listen to Minnesota Public Radio and write about the issues of the week. Minnesota Public Radio is very, very left-leaning.
Time went on and internet blogs exploded, opinions were all over the place and I was reading and writing plenty. I was against Kerry/Edwards at all costs, the unanimous hatred of Bush seemed unfair. You see, I didn’t feel Bush only represented himself, he represented the political views of so many people in this country, and their views were being reduced to ridicule. I never stood up for Bush, I stood up for the views of those people, and many of those views I actually still hold firmly within my beliefs to this day, yet some views I have changed on after a few years of thinking about things and seeing the effects of certain policy decisions.
So I’ve flip-flopped from Gore in 2000 to Bush in 2004, but 2008 felt very different. I’ve always been one of those pesky centrists who doesn’t just pick a side and pledge their wholehearted support. My ballot was big-time across party-lines in this election. I’ll save my views on our senator candidates for another day. Focusing on the Presidential candidates, I believed they would both make a good President. There was no lesser of two evils this time. There was definitely some unfairness. Plenty of unfairness. But overall it was a more honest campaign than 2004 as long as you didn’t listen to the PAC ads and read too much of the online junk.
I honestly thought the nation would take to McCain better than they did, I’ve followed him ever since the primaries in 2000 and he really is the “Maverick” that he claims to be. I thought that would resonate with people, especially in these divisive times, but it didn’t. His age and his somber speeches compared to Obama’s confident, inspirational speeches required a big move that would energize the campaign. Bringing in Sarah Palin did just that, for a few days, but after an interview with Katie Couric and a few other gaffes, it was all over before she even had the chance to debate Biden.
After that, all Obama had to do was turn on the cruise control and take the high road while the media tore Sarah Palin apart. It was an easy win for Obama at that point, but I believe that if McCain had not taken that chance with Palin, the results would not have been much different.
Ultimately, I agreed with a lot of what McCain supports, and disagreed with several things Obama supports, but I voted based on what I really felt is best for everyone overall. I put a few issues aside and I didn’t let that bother me. I was too tired of the divisiveness and hearing people say “I’m gonna move to Canada,” I’m going to “take to the streets,” or I’m going to secede from the union!” Under Obama I’m confident the economy will get better and maybe not only will Liz and I be able to start a family in a house, but a lot of other people will get back into their homes. I actually think the pull-out from Iraq will be done responsibly under Obama. He doesn’t subscribe to the Kucinich pull out on day one plan, so I’m comfortable with that.
I think that Gen. Colin Powell’s endorsement of Obama said it best,
I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities — and you have to take that into account — as well as his substance — he has both style and substance. He has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president.
He also commented on Sarah Palin,
“Now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don’t believe she’s ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president,” Powell said. “And so that raised some question in my mind as to the judgment that Senator McCain made.”
Frankly, Palin was the nail in the coffin for me. She forced me to look at this election from a different angle. Still, I look at this page on Obama’s stances and there are a lot of things there that I don’t like so much. It sure would have been nice to hear about more than just taxes and Palin’s goofs in the last couple months of the election so these things could have been clarified and debated.
It looks like Obama has folks nervous about gun control laws already. CNN reports,
Weapons dealers in much of the United States are reporting sharply higher sales since Barack Obama won the presidency a week ago.
Buyers and sellers attribute the surge to worries that Obama and a Democratic-controlled Congress will move to restrict firearm ownership, despite the insistence of campaign aides that the president-elect supports gun rights and considers the issue a low priority. Video Watch shoppers snap up guns of all types ยป
According to FBI figures for the week of November 3 to 9, the bureau received more than 374,000 requests for background checks on gun purchasers — a nearly 49 percent increase over the same period in 2007. Conatser said his store, Virginia Arms Company, has run out of some models — such as the AR-15 rifle, the civilian version of the military’s M-16 — and is running low on others.
Such assault weapons are among the firearms that gun dealers and customers say they fear Obama will hit with new restrictions, or even take off the market.
Evidently there are already plenty of people fearing the Obama policy changes, while others are already grouping Obama with Washington, Lincoln and FDR. Come on guys, let’s let him be President at least one day first. Let’s not go printing a national Barack Obama day on the calendar just yet.
After witnessing the love-affair the media had with Obama in this election, I don’t think that the mainstream media will scrutinize him at the same level as they did with the Bush Administration. He has a lot to live up to and I hope he’ll be held to it.
I’m sure I’ll find myself being the usual devil’s advocate throughout this administration. Who will I be defending? Most likely the underdog, as usual. Come to think of it, I’m the only person in Minnesota Vikings country who isn’t a Minnesota Vikings fan, so I guess I have a bit of a nonconformist streak in me and it’s just the way I am. Regardless, I still think America made the right choice. A new era is upon us, and I’m feeling pretty good about it.
Go Steelers!