It was a Dark and Stormy Night

At 8:00PM the polls closed and the media could announce the results.

Without the West Coast vote, Barack Obama has won the Presidential Election with 297 Electoral Votes to John McCain's 146.


Here is the MSNBC look at the national results.

This is the review of Oregon Results, by county.

In Oregon, to my everlasting embarrassment disappointment, Obama won with over 51% of the vote, compared to under 48% for McCain.


I am, of course, not pleased with the results.

But we do have one thing to be grateful about: it was not a close vote.

There will be none of the SoreLoserGuy whining and bickering which typified the last two presidential elections, and that has to be an improvement. Nobody likes the kid who gets mad in the sandlot, promising to take his baseball and go home ... but won't go away even though it ruins the game for everyone. (Like Al SoreLoser and John Kerrywhiner.)

The Republicans showed the Democrats how to win. Now the Republicans will have to show them how to lose: gracefully, with dignity and a concern for the benefit of The Nation.

We'll hear from Cranky Conservatives in the future. They'll be whining about how Obama bought the office. One of the recent political memes concerned the fact that Obama promised to take the$86 million or whatever it is that the Federal government gives Presidential Candidates, but later changed his mind and decided to earn contributions on his own. That really worked for him, and there's a lesson in it.

Because, you know what? You can earn better as a result of your own efforts than you can by trying to survive on Government Welfare.

Ain't that a kick in the head? The notational Conservative-slash-Republican goes on The Dole, and his opponent hands him his head comes in a poor second. On the other hand, the Marxist refuses Government Funding and instead wins because he's willing to work hard and make his own way in the world.

This sounds more like a Horatio Alger story than the Marxian Dialectic.
(Go back to that link after reading this article. You will find a view of your future there.)


The Candidates
I'm disappointed that we didn't have a Republican Presidential Candidate to vote for. Instead, we had to vote for the RINO, or the Socialist.

Like most of the Republicans in the audience, I voted for Sarah Palin. She's not only the sole Conservative in the bunch, but also the only Conservative.

I was delighted when Geraldine Ferraro was the vice presidential candidate, riding the doomed McGovernM Mondale ticket in 1984 against Ronald Regan to absolute disaster.

I didn't like Reagan at the time, and I argued with my father about Republicans vs Democrats many times. He thought Reagan would grow the economy, I (then a Democrat) thought he was old and stupid. It's amazing how thoughtful he has become in the past quarter-century; although my father died in1994 I continue to learn from his antiquated sagacity. And I have become a Conservative, which would have pleased "Pop".

But I thought it was time that someone brought a female candidate into the process of selecting a President, and even though I thought McGovern was a non-starter I voted for the Democratic ticket back then.

This year it was much easier to vote for the notional Republican Candidate, because he had a real Republican on his dance card. While others were critical of McCain because of his age (you know, "what happens if he dies in office and leaves us without a leader?"), I figured "it can't hurt, it might help. If Palin assumes the Presidency, we might have a qualified Conservative in the Driver's Seat. Nothing against McCain, but I would have been more enthusiastic about a Palin/McCain ticket.

So much for the Distaff side of the choices-we-had-to-live-with.

How about that Obama?

Our first Black President. It's an historic moment, the only problem is that Obama may not be the best Black President.

There's a story going around about a century ago ... no, it was only a decade ... that Colin Powell was approached to run for President in the 2000 elections. He declined, however, under the ominous threat (and perhaps at the time a reasonable concern) that a black man cannot be elected without risking assassination in office.

Obama, in his most brilliant political move, chose The Distinguished Dork From Delaware, the Right Honorable Joe Biden, as his running mate.

There is nobody in this entire country who will risk the health and welfare of Barrack Obama as long as Joe Biden is waiting in the wings to take over the role of Defender of the Free World.

I'm not going to try to convince you that our nation is not going to take some serious hits in the next four years. We are. We will see a couple of Supreme Court Judges retire between now and 2012, under the sure and certain confidence that Obama will present only the most Liberal and Interpretive candidates as replacements. And they'll be seated, too. The Liberals own both the House and the Senate. We'll be dealing with the fall-out for the next 30 years.

Here's the good news. Obama has no governor. He'll over-rev, and the American citizen will watch his taxes rise, the American influence drop in the world Economy, and we will find ourselves in the economic hell of England and Canada where they will not (for example) suffer a non-conformist to live. Literally -- they own Socialized Medicine, which no modern nation has yet managed to provide health care for marginal patients.

In 2012, Obama will face Sarah Palin head-to-head, and it's a whole new ball game.
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UPDATE: 5-NOV-2008:
I originally wrote that Ferrro was teamed with McGovern in 1972. Stupid me, Whitefish set me right. It was over a decade later that Ferraro became the first woman to be a candidate from a Major Political Party in an American Presidential Election.

It will be A Good Day when computers come with a Spell Checker for your mind. God knows I need an Editor.
In the meanwhile, I expect to make many more fundamental errors of cognizance, and I continue to rely on my Readers to keep me accurate.