Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom Clarke who wrote (278770)	11/5/2008 8:39:06 AM
From: Tom Clarke	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793928

Election Post-Mortem by Xrlq @ 12:37 am As of this writing, it is unclear whether Obama will carry the Tarheel State or whether Stuart Smalley will unseat Norm Coleman, but no matter how you slice it, the Democrats had a blowout. Obama won by a landslide. Kay Hagan probably didn’t deserve to win, but Elizabeth Dole clearly deserved to lose, and did. John Murtha was too thick to realize that “vote for me, you cousin-humping rednecks” was not a winning campaign slogan, but won handily nevertheless. Even Beverly Perdue, whose surname is French “lost,” didn’t (though in fairness, “la gouvernesse perdue” also means “the lost governor,” and she couldn’t be that if we hadn’t elected her). And while I thoroughly reject the notion that “America wins” just because we held an election, I do see a few silver linings here: # Despite her husband’s loss, Cindy McCain will still be proud of her country. # America is not now, and will never be, a socialist country. Yes, we did just elect a socialist. No, that doesn’t mean we’ll let him take this country in that direction, at least not very far. If Obama wants a second term, he’ll have to govern a lot differently than he has while representing a quasi-socialist state like Illinois and a straight-out socialist district like Chicago. There’s only so much one can accomplish in two years. [And yes, I meant "two," not "four," as there's even less President Obama will be able to accomplish in '11 and '12 if he overreaches in '09 like Clinton did in 1992.] Even Sweden was governed by socialists for decades before actually implementing a socialist agenda in any meaningful way. # In the same vein, it appears we will not have a filibuster-proof Senate. Personally, I’m not a big fan of the filibuster, but I’m even less of a fan of refusing to play on a level playing field. Democrats weren’t shy about using it on us, so there’s no reason for us to be any shier about returning the favor. # We haven’t heard the last of Sarah Palin. I think she has a very real chance of coming back on the top of the ticket in ‘12 or ‘16. By that time, the novelty of the first (second?) black President will have worn off, and so too will any doubts about her qualifications for the Presidency. So she wasn’t a quick enough study to ace the Katie Couric interview mere weeks after being plucked from Alaska. That won’t be an issue six months from now, let alone two years from now (and God help us if we’re even thinking about the ‘12 election in ‘10). # We probably have heard the last of Hillary Clinton, unless President Obama is dumb enough to nominate her to the Supreme Court. And if he is that dumb, thank [God / your lucky stars / John McCain] that we never got rid of the judicial filibuster. # We have almost certainly heard the last of John McCain. I must say my opinion of McCain has improved significantly since last spring, but I’d like to think we can do better in the future (though we’d be hard pressed to do as well, let alone better, on taxes, foreign policy, earmarks or guns). * We almost certainly have heard the last of Chris Shays. If that name doesn’t ring a bell, it should. Ever heard of the infamous “McCain-Feingold” law? The bill actually bearing that name died in the Senate. The law you know as McCain-Feingold was actually Shays-Meehan. Now if we could just find some way to get rid of Mr. Feingold and Mr. Meehan. * The lost governor has a pretty good record on guns, enough to gain the NRA endorsement over McCrory. Too bad she sucks on everything else. Palin/Jindal in ‘12 (assuming we still have elections then). xrlq.com