(no subject)
Hey. It's me. Yea, I realize it's been two months. But that's beside the point.
So it looks like Bush is going to be president for four more years (I know that Ohio is still technically up for grabs, but I seriously doubt there are enough votes for Kerry to win). So what does this mean? Bush is not a super popular guy: people aren't happy with the economy or the situation in Iraq. Some conservatives are willing to admit that Bush has done nothing to make government any smaller. So why did Bush win?
There are two things that the democrats can take from this election. One is that they need a candidate that is actually able to connect with people. People liked Bill Clinton. People tolerate John Kerry. Both John Kerry and President Bush lose to the theoretical "Not Bush" candidate. This would seem to say that if the democrats had picked a better candidate, they could have beat Bush.
However, I think this election is about more than just the democratic party not being able to choose a likeable candidate. With a huge turn out the vote campaign that the democrats thought would insure them a victory, it would seem to me that they'd have to realize that their social views aren't in the main stream. You would be hard pressed to point out anything that Bush did well in the past 4 years that any other person wouldn't have done (If you think Gore wouldn't have attacked Afghanistan and been praised for his actions after 9-11, you don't understand the politician's mind). So that leaves social issues as the only reason Bush got elected. America isn't for civil unions. America isn't for stem-cell research. The liberals are more on the fringe then they'd like to believe.
This shows just how deeply divided America is. Liberals can't believe that a bunch of hicks and farmers are deciding who their president is, while conservatives think that the city folks are bringing about the moral decay of America. Yea, these are gross over-generalizations, but I'm in an over-general mood. Does anyone see this divide shrinking any time soon? I doubt it.
Oh, and to any liberal who says that Bush's win means that the war on terror and it's many casualties will keep going on, just realize that the EXACT same thing would have happened if Kerry won. He's not an anti-war candidate. He's a "get other people to share some of our casualties" candidate.
OK, done ranting.
So it looks like Bush is going to be president for four more years (I know that Ohio is still technically up for grabs, but I seriously doubt there are enough votes for Kerry to win). So what does this mean? Bush is not a super popular guy: people aren't happy with the economy or the situation in Iraq. Some conservatives are willing to admit that Bush has done nothing to make government any smaller. So why did Bush win?
There are two things that the democrats can take from this election. One is that they need a candidate that is actually able to connect with people. People liked Bill Clinton. People tolerate John Kerry. Both John Kerry and President Bush lose to the theoretical "Not Bush" candidate. This would seem to say that if the democrats had picked a better candidate, they could have beat Bush.
However, I think this election is about more than just the democratic party not being able to choose a likeable candidate. With a huge turn out the vote campaign that the democrats thought would insure them a victory, it would seem to me that they'd have to realize that their social views aren't in the main stream. You would be hard pressed to point out anything that Bush did well in the past 4 years that any other person wouldn't have done (If you think Gore wouldn't have attacked Afghanistan and been praised for his actions after 9-11, you don't understand the politician's mind). So that leaves social issues as the only reason Bush got elected. America isn't for civil unions. America isn't for stem-cell research. The liberals are more on the fringe then they'd like to believe.
This shows just how deeply divided America is. Liberals can't believe that a bunch of hicks and farmers are deciding who their president is, while conservatives think that the city folks are bringing about the moral decay of America. Yea, these are gross over-generalizations, but I'm in an over-general mood. Does anyone see this divide shrinking any time soon? I doubt it.
Oh, and to any liberal who says that Bush's win means that the war on terror and it's many casualties will keep going on, just realize that the EXACT same thing would have happened if Kerry won. He's not an anti-war candidate. He's a "get other people to share some of our casualties" candidate.
OK, done ranting.