Why so blue?
I had planned on posting a comment on why I find the election results particularly distressing, but then I woke up today and found that Thomas Friedman has already said everything I was going to write. Money quote:
Why didn't I feel totally depressed after George H. W. Bush defeated Michael Dukakis, or even when George W. Bush defeated Al Gore? Why did I wake up feeling deeply troubled yesterday?
Answer: whatever differences I felt with the elder Bush were over what was the right policy. There was much he ultimately did that I ended up admiring. And when George W. Bush was elected four years ago on a platform of compassionate conservatism, after running from the middle, I assumed the same would be true with him. (Wrong.) But what troubled me yesterday was my feeling that this election was tipped because of an outpouring of support for George Bush by people who don't just favor different policies than I do - they favor a whole different kind of America. We don't just disagree on what America should be doing; we disagree on what America is.
I keep thinking back to Bill Clinton's speech at the Democratic National Convention:
My friends, we are constantly being told that America is deeply divided. But all Americans value freedom and faith and family. We all honor the service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform, in Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout the world.
We all want good jobs, good schools, health care, safe streets, a clean environment. We all want our children to grow up in a secure America leading the world toward a peaceful and prosperous future.
Our differences are in how we can best achieve these things in a time of unprecedented change. Therefore, we Democrats will bring to the American people this year a positive campaign, arguing not who is a good or a bad person, but what is the best way to build a safe and prosperous world our children deserve.
Clinton hasn't been this wrong since "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." The fact is that a large number of people who voted for George Bush don't prioritize good jobs, good schools, health care, safe streets, or a clean environment. They want abortion outlawed, gay marriage forbidden, and a president who sincerely believes that America (and its foreign policy) is a gift from God to the world. They could care less if social security is privatized. The good jobs, good schools, health care, safe streets, and clean environment will come not from a thoughtful president who sinks every ounce of energy into bringing them about, but from God, and only after we sufficiently convince Him of our moral restraint.
We're not debating policy anymore. We're debating philosophy. The stakes are suddenly so much greater, and my side's getting creamed. What's not to be depressed about?