And Now the Analysis Begins

Our president-elect has chosen his chief of staff. Rahm Emannuel is a Washington insider. That's got the media tongue's wagging..."Is this the change he promised?"

No sooner had Obama been declared the winner than my inbox began to fill with letters from people with agendas, urging me to be sure and contact him to push for a list of changes that runs the gamut from universal health care to safer chew toys for puppies. Nancy Pelosi is already making up her to-do list and Senate Republicans are promising to stand firm and push back on anything the new president proposes.

The president of Iraq is filming an obnoxious little statement saying he's sure that our new president will be "flexible" on a timetable for withdrawal.

Give the man a little room!

I voted for Obama because I believe I can trust his judgement. His stated agenda - the economy, renewable energy, health care, foreign relations and the war in Iraq - fit with what I believe are our top issues. And the actions he proposed during his campaign sounded reasonable and appropriate.

Yes, we should pay attention. President Obama is an unknown quantity - we don't know what happens to a candidate once he's had all the security briefings and given the full picture of the reality of trying to get things done in Washington.

But I refuse to start picking apart every move he makes before he's had more than a couple of nights' sleep as the president-elect.

I intend to sit back, breathe, and watch. I am confident I will be satisfied with what I see. I have to - or the joy I felt at his victory means nothing.

It tickled me no end that the head of ICE quietly disappeared as soon as the election was over. The cockroaches are beginning to flee as the curtains are pulled back.

And I'm simply astounded by the GOP dogs turning on Sarah Palin. Do I doubt that there's truth in what they're saying? Not really. But I also think it's a perfect illustration of the dysfunctionality of the Republican machine. They can't accept that they ran a bad campaign, that they distorted their candidate until the country couldn't accept him, that they couldn't overcome the country's utter disgust with the state of the nation under the current administration. So they're going to try to blame Palin. And maybe try to be sure to torpedo any thoughts she's entertaining about running in the future.

Or wait - maybe you have to think in a more twisted fashion to understand the strategy. The leaks were made by Republican campaign workers to Fox News, their biggest apologist.

Maybe they're trying to make us feel sorry for her. "Give the woman a break - they were SO mean to her after the 2008 election!"

Governance by manipulation. A time honored Republican strategy. No thanks.

Get to work, President Obama. And let me know how I can help.

Acting Our Age?

This sure is a young country. It must be - because the people in it act like we're choosing the most popular kid in class - not the president.

If I like my guy better, the philosophy appears to be, all is fair in attempts to make sure everyone agrees with me.

There's the pathetic story of the McCain volunteer who made up an attack against her. There are stories coming in indicating that the vote won't be counted fairly or accurately. And there are those pesky campaign signs.

Ours was stolen from our front yard this week. I live in a town that is overwhelmingly supporting Obama and it seemed a bit like preaching to the choir to put a sign in the yard, but it also seemed important to put our yard where our hearts are. All the signs around town disappeared this week. Apparently some McCain supporter believed that if you took our signs, we wouldn't be sure who to vote for. I must admit I'm reconsidering now, Mr. or Ms. Thief. Thanks for your help.

This is bipartisan idiocy. I have a relative who lives on the other side of the country in an equally Democratic community. He is retired. He supports McCain. He has a bumper sticker on his car saying so. His car has been keyed and finally the sticker was ripped off. He wears a McCain hat. He was accosted in a parking lot recently by a man who swore at him and told him where he could put his vote (while pointing to the appropriate part of his own anatomy).

The increasing hysteria from the GOP as McCain appears to be behind in the polls isn't just ear-splitting - it's disturbing. And the message the Obama began the campaign with, hope, has been distorted by many of his supporters into salvation.

McCain's not my choice for president, but I truly do not believe he is evil or even a bad person. I disagree with his political philosophy and I think it's the wrong choice to lead this country into the future. Obama's views are more aligned with mine but I don't kid myself that he's some kind of messiah. He is, I hope, a decent guy with an open mind who will bring intelligence and a spirit of cooperation to the White House. But he's been nominated by what I believe is essentially a corrupt political system, so he has to have played the game to a degree to get where he is. The compromises McCain has made to win the nomination are obvious - candidate McCain doesn't agree with Senator McCain on many fundamental views. Obama has no doubt made similar bargains with the devil. They don't let you run unless you do.

So it's frightened people looking for a guru to show them how to pull the country together who invest these two men with some sort of magical power. And anything they can do to tear down the opponent, even symbolically, makes them feel they're helping bring their guy a step closer to that all-important victory.

Stealing and lying are no big deal when they're for a good cause, right?

My Fellow Prisoners?

I have a growing concern about the GOP campaign. A couple of concerns, actually - ones I hadn't even considered until recently.

The more I watch John McCain, the more I see a very, very angry man. There's a thinly covered hostility when he debates Barack Obama. Sometimes it's not even veiled..."that one," for instance. I didn't take it as a racial thing - I took it as a condescending, aggressive remark I'd expect toward someone for whom you have no respect whatsoever. Not good politics.

But even more, I read about McCain's reputation for having a nasty temper and wonder just what his experiences as a prisoner of war have done to his psyche. I realize there's a lot of garbage out there that passes for information and I don't want to overreact, but there's one story after another about McCain's loss of control - either physically or verbally. And then there's his latest gaffe..."my friends" and "my fellow Americans" gave way to "my fellow prisoners." If you haven't heard about it, you can read it here....

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/08/1517943.aspx

John McCain has been through hell. There's no disputing that. And that kind of trauma leaves a mark. Has anyone really looked into that? Is this man wounded emotionally as well as physically?

Then there's the increasingly strident and ugly rhetoric at the campaign rallies. Sarah Palin whips the crowd up to an angry frenzy and some people shout to actually physically harm the Democratic candidate. Does Palin or McCain say, "Whoa, now...wait a minute. This is about philosophy and politics and democracy - not about eliminating your opposition!"? No. Not that I've seen, anyway.

And if they don't, they are encouraging something that has no place in the America they say they believe in. We don't kill. We don't torture. We don't do violence to those who disagree with us. At least that's what we say.

John McCain and Sarah Palin have a moral obligation to keep this campaign under control. If they incite violence, I hope they never sleep well again. And I hope they understand that they, more than anything they believe Barack Obama could do, will have helped destroy America.

LATER NOTE: Since I wrote this, John McCain did try to defuse the growing hysteria among some of his supporters. He assured people at a rally that they didn't have to fear a Barack Obama presidency. He told them Obama is a decent, Christian man who loves his family and his country. And McCain's supporters booed him. The fear some of the Republican faithful have of the Democratic candidate is beyond reason - and the mob mentality is growing so strong that they will even turn on their own man if he tells them it has no basis in reality.
Tonight, I'm betting John McCain is wondering what kind of monster his campaign has unleashed. And I'll be truthful. I'm afraid.

Negativity

Palin accuses Obama of being buddy buddy with "terrorists." She digs up the Reverend Wright controversy again. Obama fires back with a Keating Five "documentary" on his website.
It sure is riveting. And makes me kinda sick.

First of all, people in glass houses and all that. The left-leaning media folks quickly pointed out that the feisty little governor is married to a guy who belonged to a group of secessionists. Apparently they weren't too crazy about the US either, huh, Governor? And then there's that video clip of Sarah Palin at her church, where the minister who is an important part of her spiritual life began his career banishing witches. Really.

Let me be fair - the Obama campaign's sludge tossing doesn't please me any better. They are, according to reports, only putting the Keating docu-drama on their website, not buying ad time. So the assumption is it's more of a warning shot across the McCain campaign's bow. "Don't mess with us - we know how to play that game, too."

But really. Who has time for this? I have a cousin who has watched a lifetime of savings evaporate in less than a week. The woman behind the local grocery counter was wondering what the hell she's supposed to do - her daughter is 16 and the money they were saving for her college tuition was in the stock market. Gone.

C'mon Barack. Get a clue, John. This country is in very, very bad shape and we're desperately hoping you can pull us together long enough to lead us out of the mess we're in. A mess we're ALL in, no matter what your political philosophy.

I admit I don't hold out much hope for Senator McCain. He seems angry. He's checked his convictions at the campaign door and is flip flopping around hoping to find a position that might help us forget that he's part of the party that led us here.

Senator Obama, you had it right when you began. Take the high road. Fire back if you must, since weakness is not something you can show to a highly tuned political eating machine. But don't wallow in it. Hold your head up, look toward the future and get the rest of us to look with you. We are a country that needs to believe in ourselves again. You've proved you have the ability to sell us on hope - that's what got you here. And now, more than at any time in this campaign, that message is the one that matters.

Because if we lose hope, this is going to be a very dark time indeed.

Let the Games Begin

Sarah Palin made her acceptance speech at the RNC. I watched. She was smart, she was charming, she was funny, she was sincere. She cracked a good joke about the grit of soccer moms. She went for the heart with a vow that parents of special needs kids could count on her support if she wins the election. She went for the jugular with a crack about community organizers doing what mayors do, but without any responsibility.

What she didn't do was explain how her strong family values reconcile with her refusal to put environmental concerns anywhere near the importance she places on energy exploration. She didn't talk about her lawsuit to keep the government from putting polar bears on the endangered list or identify a unique species of whale in an area where she supports oil drilling.

That's to be expected. She's preaching to the choir, as Democrats did just a week ago. She's standing on the pedestal of right, of conviction, of virtue.

Barack Obama's had that podium pretty much to himself up until now. And now both sides will do their best to knock the other off it. Whoever is King (or Queen) of the Hill at the end of election day wins.

It was interesting to watch Rudy Guiliani play head cheerleader for a man he did his best to bury on the campaign trail a few months ago. But again, that's politics. If you don't win, you'd better get behind the one who does and cheer him on.

But I find myself growing tired of it all. Thousands of rabid Republicans chanting for more drilling, angry activists mugging GOP delegates, Democrats taking swipes at their opponents and hoping some of the blows connect - this is a strange way to run a railroad, as my mom would have said.

American politics seems to have come down to a simple question: "Who do you dislike less on election day?"

What if the answer is - "I'm sick of all of you?"