How Obama got elected.

I've been trying to come terms with the election results by employing several coping mechanisms--positive self talk, withdrawal, denial, hoping for the best, ignoring reality, etc. OK, those probably aren't all coping mechanisms, but you can only care so much right? I don't know how Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Al Franken, Bill Mahr and the like do it to tell you the truth. They seem to have an insatiable drive. Maybe they're all on speed or something, who knows.

Anyway, I'm hoping for the best, but not really expecting much to change, honestly. I guess that's why I've decided not to worry much about the country. One day I was really fired up about some non-sense Obama was proposing when Emily astutely pointed out that no one ever actually does what they say they're going to do, so why even worry about it (except for Mitch Daniels--our IN governor (R)--if he says it, you can take it to the bank. He just won by a landslide in a state where Obama won--that tells you how many voters from both sides he attracted.) That's good ying for my yang, I suppose. She's got a lot of good ying for my yang for that matter. But anyway, back to the post... I find it interesting that Obama's leadership positions are being filled at a percentage of like three-quarters former Clinton staffers. There's no change there; just more of the same. Somehow it seems to go unnoticed though. I mentioned this to some friends (D's) in a casual setting the other day and was was met with mostly blank stares--as if to say with their eyes "I don't get it"... I wanted to say "CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN"--you know the theme we've been hearing about for so long? Maybe they are all just mindless buffoons with messenger bags (That's still the funniest video I've seen in ages). I also can't believe how many people seem to have forgotten about Iraq. Ya, ya, I know the economy has taken center stage and for good reason. But my goodness, not long ago this country was screaming for complete and total withdrawal. Now-a-days no one seems to care. It's like their guy is in now and there's something else to talk about so it's not an issue any longer. This nation's on too much Ritalin. That's a post for another day.

Anyway, I came across this article about how Obama got elected and found it very interesting. They're in the process of doing a documentary on the subject so they interviewed a bunch of Obama voters to see what they knew about current events, prominent leaders, etc. Did they know much about the candidates, what did they remember from the news, etc. The video they made is really, really telling. It's long--almost 10 minutes, but worth watching.

Here it is:



It's pretty obvious what the media spent all its time talking about the last few months and what people actually know and remember. What a stupid, uninformed--or maybe better put--misinformed electorate we are part of. These people shouldn't be allowed to vote. He probably could have said he was going to make New Orleans the capital of the country with Ray Nagin as his vice-president and he still would have won.

Anyway, I have another confession to make. In a previous post, I didn't want to sound like a total Obama hater so I said I wasn't sure if the media was trying to protect him or not. Part of me wanted to feel like I was keeping an open mind and not rushing to judgment. The truth is the media is a joke. They have failed to report on relevant issues--ones that are truly interesting no less. There is actually a lot of stuff in Obama's history that is controversial, interesting, and very, very relevant, but not reported on. It also paints him in a very, very negative light--a machine politician, member of a racist church, and a friend to one crook after another, just to name a few. Any wonder Sarah Palin's wardrobe was so heavily discussed when issues like those mentioned in "The Case Against Obama" were pushed under the table? By the way, "The Case Against Obama" is an excellent book--easy and quick read, outlines many of the issues which the media either under reported or didn't report at all and does so with out making him out to be the devil, which he clearly is not. The point is just that there's much more to his history and person than we hear about.

Finally, I'm not worried much any more. The fact he has chosen so many Clinton-ites for his administration is actually somewhat of a relief. They aren't radicals with weird-o agendas; they're just typical career politicians like everyone else in Washington. While I don't agree with them economically, politically, or otherwise, I don't think they'll do much more damage than was done under Clinton. I could be wrong, but I hope not. At some point conservatives have to get their act together and make real change, but for now, the prospect of mitigating our damages is somewhat comforting.