My Post Election Thoughts

· Categories Politics

I intentionally stayed away from political posts this year. It’s not because I didn’t have an opinion.

Like a lot of America I stayed up last night watching all of the various coverage on the elections. I have always loved politics and every 2 years I get my taste of it again. I was going to write several things in this post, and this I ran across THIS POST from Tony Morgan. He said most of the things I wanted to say. I’ve added a few other thoughts at the bottom.

We’ve elected our first African-American President. That’s historic.

I’m proud to be an American. Our political process really works.

It was interesting watching the collapse of the Giuliani campaign earlier this year.

I thought the branding of the Obama campaign (graphics and otherwise) was far superior to McCain.

I’m glad I didn’t have to run on the Republican ticket given the current economy. I don’t know if any candidate could have beaten Obama this year.

Personally, I think the campaign ended up being more about “change” than it had to do with specific ideas.

Honestly, I didn’t want to vote for either of these candidates for different reasons. But I did.

I like Obama’s personality and charisma more than McCain’s. I tend to think the more “likeable” candidate usually gets elected regardless of their platform.

I’m amazed at how seamless the transition is in America when we select a new leader.

I think it’ll be interesting to watch the Democrats shift from the Clinton era to the Obama era.

I think it’ll be interesting to watch who rises up to lead within the Republican party.

I preferred the visual layout of the CNN HD coverage over the Fox News HD coverage last night. Fox News tried to cram too much information on one screen.

McCain’s concession speech for very honoring to his opponent.

Obama’s victory speech was stirring.

I think Obama is a great communicator. I love watching people who are gifted orators.

Oh, and one more thing… I believe God is sovereign and that he’s the only answer to real change in our lives and in our communities.

I thought most of my “growing up years” that I would one day run for public office. That’s no longer an aspiration of mine, but I still love the process. I did not vote for Barack Obama because I have several core beliefs that don’t line up with his, and I could never get past those. I wasn’t crazy about John McCain’s candidacy either. That being said, I believe he can be a great leader for our country. It is my hope and prayer that Godly wisdom will guide him as he takes on a weighty obligation.

In these times, my greater prayer is that The Church will not waste this opportunity to still be The Church. Spewing some of the crap that I’ve seen today on Facebook, blogs, etc is not what God has called us too. I understand disappointment. I do not understand hatred, bigotry, or stupidity.

God is in control today, just as He was yesterday, just like He will be January 20, 2009.

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Presidential Debate

· Categories Politics

Tonight I watched almost all of the Republican and Democratic debates on ABC (I realize this makes me a dork). I was struck by several things.

1) During a Presidential Election, the current state of the country is extremely overstated to the negative. While I completely agree that there are serious issues to be navigated during the next Administration, the overstatements by candidates from both parties was excessive.
2) The candidates have a central message that they are trying to drive home. For instance, Hilary Clinton wanted people to hear that she had 35 years of experience bringing about change. Bill Richardson wanted people to know that he was a Governor and had led a state through a balanced budget, etc which he felt prepared him to lead a nation. Ron Paul wanted people to know that he was against the war in Iraq and if we could just get out of Iraq we could save 3 Trillion dollars which would pay for all of the initiatives that he is proposing. Rudy Guliani wanted us to know that “his city” was attacked on 9/11. Barak Obama and Mike Huckabee wanted you to know that they won in the Iowa caucus, and John Edwards wanted you to know that he came in 2nd in Iowa and not Hilary Clinton. Almost every answer they gave included some variation or mention of these messages.
3) I was reminded of the spin room scenes in the final season of “The West Wing” (one of the greatest shows in television history) every time they showed the gymnasium at the college. Even before the debate was over every campaign was positioning their candidate as the one who did the best and got their message across. Several candidates brought up Mitt Romney’s “flip flopping” (was anyone reminded of 4 years ago when John Kerry was called a “flip flopper” every 10 seconds?). Mitt Romney’s camp spun this afterwards that he was able to withstand the obvious tag team attacks, due to the other’s inferiority to their candidate, so that he could “address the real issues that the American people want to talk about.” Spin, Spin, Spin!
4) While each party’s candidates are attacking each other, in just a few short months they will be aligned behind the eventual winner of the nomination and begin attacking the other party.

No matter the outcome, none of the candidates that proposed ideas tonight will be able to implement all of the things they want too. Thankfully the men that constructed the Constitution created checks and balances that require the President, Congress, and the Judicial system to work hand to hand to institute change and maintain democracy.

I love politics!

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