The Morning After...

The mid-term elections are over and the results are finally in:



Source: CNN

The results, as we can see, were not all that surprising, the Republicans were expected to do well, but not this well. The margin was simply huge. Republicans control the House, the Democrats retain control of the Senate but only by a slim majority.

How do I feel about the results? I have mixed emotions about it.

I'm happy that gridlock will make its return to Washington. As we've seen under President Bush, one party controlling everything is a recipe for disaster. If anything, President Obama's profligate ways will be checked. I hope the fights are bloody. For me bipartisanship is a dirty word. And I eagerly await the return of the filibuster in the Senate.

I'm disappointed by the results in my state of Massachusetts. It seems voters were not keen to see the incumbents go and voted them all back in. Yes, Massachusetts voters are mostly sheep, but there's little organized opposition against Democrats in one of the bluest states in the country. The Republicans, for the most part, are brain dead and ineffectual. They couldn't get elected dog catcher if they tried.

The Tea Party candidates did well. I supported them for the most parts, especially those keen on smaller governments, free markets, and more personal liberty. On the other hand, I'm glad Christine O'Donnell, who vigorously opposes masturbation, lost her bid for a U.S. Senate seat. Her winning would make her the second-coming of Rick Santorum, the former gay-bashing senator from Pennsylvania. She's a faux small governmental anyway, the type of person who would like government to intrude on the private lives of citizens and curtail civil liberties.

All in all, a good election.

Why Olbermann Is A Jack-Ass

John Stewart takes MSNBC's Keith Olbermann down a peg or two. The performance is simply priceless:

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A "Like, Duh" Moment

I know I’m coming to this realization a bit late (shoot me for being slow), but it would have been better if John McCain picked either Mitt Romney - his devout Mormonism aside - or Bobby Jindal as his running mate. Unlike Palin, neither of them are dummies.

Who To Blame?

Did Palin cost McCain the election? According to FOX News, it sure looks like it:



I cut McCain a lot of slack for choosing Palin, but he should have at least talked to her and asked a few simple questions - like whether Africa is a continent or not. I know most American can't find their own country on a map, but even a third-grader knows that Africa is a continent.

(via hit & run)

...The Day After

Congratulations to Barack Obama for winning the presidency. His victory was not a complete surprise given the mood of the voters, but the margin of victory was wide, to say the least. I, for one, expected a much narrower race.

Nevertheless, it is a historic moment in U.S. history: a black man has attained the highest position in the land. Historic in that the Civil Rights Movement is not even 50 years old, but in a space of three generations the United States has made headway in race relations, epitomized by the election of Barack Obama.

Good luck, President Barack Obama!

Why Obama Has A Chance

This is a watershed moment in American politics: we have a realistic chance of seeing our first black president. Possible because Obama transcends race, class and, even at times, ideology.

Why is Obama so appealing, even among white Americans? Americans have given the presidency to white, Anglo-Saxon males (with the exception of John F. Kennedy, America's first Catholic president) since the founding of the republic. It took the imbecility of George H. W. Bush to shatter this myth. Never mind that Bush was rich, educated at both Yale and Harvard, and comes from an aristocratic political family - all the ingredients necessary to be a leader - he proved to be incompetent.

Can Obama do any worse?

A Typical Obama Supporter

Took this while driving: a Prius driver who supports Obama. Yeah, sounds about right.

Humor: Chris Matthews And Obama

Great strip about Chris Mathews' infatuation, or man-crush, for Barack Obama:

Obama Wins Nomination.

Not surprisingly, Obama has won the Democratic nomination for president - unofficially. Clinton has yet to concede, but knowing her modus operandi, she's probably angling for VP.

I'm disappointed it has come to this. I consider politics to be a blood sport, the political equivalent of the MMA. So to see the event end so early has cheated me of the enjoyment I so desperately needed: to see Clinton and Obama beat each other into a bloody pulp by convention time. Alas, it is not to be.

On the upside, it's good to know who the contenders are. For me, both McCain and Obama are bitter disappointments. McCain, with his maverick persona long worn off, represents a party that desperately needs to renew itself ideologically. Obama is the feel good candidate, whose lack of experience (and ideas) seems secondary to his natural gift as an orator and schmoozer. For people who are voting with their hearts instead of their brains, Obama is their man. I'm much too cynical to fall for Obama's charisma.

I'm not saying I'm not voting in November. I am. Just not for McCain or Obama.

Is Obama The Winner?

The consensus seems to be to declare Obama the winner since destiny, and a little math, is on his side. Consensus also seems to be for an Obama/Clinton ticket. I don't know if that's such a good idea. Clinton is petulant, vindictive, and, not to mention, ambitious. As vice president, she'll try to undermine Obama as much as she can. Yes, she's capable of that!

Obama's Albatross

Even with Obama's very vocal avowal of Rev. Wright, it's a link that will forever be cast in stone. After all, Rev. Wright has been Obama's pastor for some twenty odd years, right? Presumably, this is not the first time (or the second time) Rev. Wright has uttered such statements; and it definitely won't be his last.

Suffice it to say, this is very damaging to Obama, who was doing a good job of transcending race in this election, only to be taken down by a race-baiting preacher. Rev. Wright is the best thing to happen to Hillary Clinton and it showed in Pennsylvania

What Rev. Wright has said is no different than what white racists have said about blacks since Reconstruction.

Obama On A Roll While Clinton Flounders

Sen. Obama has swept Democratic primaries in Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. The results can be found on Yahoo’s political dashboard. It was no contest. Obama clobbered Clinton at each turn. As a result, Obama not only leads in the delegate count but also has momentum for upcoming elections being held next week in Wisconsin, and in Ohio and Texas on March 4th.

Why is Clinton faring so badly? She had, at the beginning, in almost insurmountable lead in the polls, but now is trailing behind Obama. Part of the reason, I believe, has to do with the fact that Obama has more charisma, and is a better speaker, than Clinton, whose skills are more attune to working behind the scenes. Another issue is that Clinton is perceived as an establishment candidate, a creature of Washington; while Obama is perceived as a genuine outsider, who is willing to shake things up. It doesn’t help, of course, that Clinton has a history of flip-flopping on key issues, like the war in Iraq.

"Super-Delegates" Are Key In Democratic Primary

This AFP article gives a good overview on “super-delegates,” who will likely play a key role in the Democratic primary, currently in a deadlock between Clinton and Obama. An excerpt:

With no clear winner after months of wooing voters, the tight race for the Democratic White House nomination may leave the choice between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to "super-delegates."

The super-delegates are party leaders and lawmakers, including all Democratic members of Congress and former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, as well as ex-vice president Al Gore.

If no candidate has a lock on the 2,025 delegates needed to secure the nomination before the party's convention in August, the 796 "super-delegates" would be decisive.

Unlike "pledged" delegates chosen through primaries and caucuses, super-delegates are free to vote for whomever they choose. Many have already promised to back one candidate or another, "and most of the others will at some point before the convention," said Michael Tanner, a political analyst with the Cato Institute.

Does anyone find this sordid process undemocratic? What is the point of even holding primaries if the the end result is solely left to these "super-delegates"? After all, no one elects them; and they are not answerable to anyone, making the whole system suspect in my eyes.

Nevertheless, if I had to bet money on who can make the system work, it would have to be the Clintons, who are more adept at working the backrooms than Obama, who is both inexperienced and more than naïve about such matters.

Last Republican Standing: Romney Suspends Campaign

At the CPAC conference, Mitt Romney has announced that he’s suspending his campaign. Given his lackluster performance on Super Tuesday, the low number of delegates he has so far garnered (which eliminates him mathematically), and, not to mention, the personal wealth he has personally staked to the campaign, it is no surprise he’s suspending his run.

Romney’s withdrawal is a sure sign that conservatives have run out of steam. They have no energy left. They gave it all to President Bush, who quickly squandered it. President George Bush was conservative as they come, and he’s been a disaster. Name any cherished conservative principle, and George Bush has trashed it. Whatever the results of Iraq, success or failure, the Bush Administration botched it from the beginning.

With no real choice other than to sit home, conservative will now, albeit reluctantly, throw their support over to McCain, whom they revile but will vote for anyway because an imperfect conservative is better than a perfect liberal.

Super Tuesday Results: McCains Surges And Clinton Splits

Yahoo has a great interactive dashboard displaying the results of Super Tuesday that is worth checking out.

I say I was surprised by Mitt Romney’s very poor showing given how conservative media types like Rush Limbaugh were hammering McCain (and Huckabee) for not being a true conservative. Nevertheless, it seems many conservatives decided to stay home rather than vote. And the conservatives who did vote, mostly the evangelicals, voted for Huckabee instead. Don’t know if Romney’s Mormon faith had anything to do with, but Huckabee picked up some key Southern states (also known as the Bible belt) so it may have been a factor.

On the Democratic front, not surprisingly, no clear winner has emerged, both Barack and Clinton managed an even split. This one is going to be bloody one; and chances are good it won’t be decided until the convention.

Then There Were Two...

After Clinton and McCain won their respective Florida primaries, both Edwards and Giuliani have opted to drop out the race. I’m not really surprised by Giuliani’s announcement, since he staked his entire campaign on Florida, where he came in a distant third. I’m surprised, though, that Edwards has decided to call it quits since he has a very good chance of playing the spoiler; I figure he would at least stick it out after super Tuesday.

So why did they choose to quit?

Giuliani was a bundle of contradictions, who based his campaign solely on 9/11, which, naturally, made for a good story, but couldn’t be translated into a referendum for the presidency. And there was the question of his character: his divorces, his affairs, and his supposed Catholic convictions. That Giuliani didn’t see the conflicts, or chose to ignore them, did not bode well with social conservatives, and the religious right.

Edwards, on the other hand, should’ve done better. But when he came in third in South Carolina, supposedly his neck of the woods, Edwards knew he was in trouble. Florida was his last stand too, and like Giuliani, Edward lost big. Edwards has the natural gifts of being a great politicians, but unlike Obama, he doesn’t come off as smart and likable, more like arrogant and smarmy. More snake oil salesman, who he is, then a progressive, which he clearly isn’t. But given the see-saw campaign between Clinton and Barack, Edwards was a good position in influencing the outcome, making sure the leading candidates stuck to their Democratic principles; and, yes, even play the role of kingmaker at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Giuliani has pledged his support for McCain, who is clearly on a roll. As for Edwards, he’s being quiet for now, no doubt angling for a juicy role. Vice President, perhaps?

Hillary Clinton Not Getting Key Endorsements

Sen. Hillary Clinton’s chances of being the second “black” president (her husband, Bill Clinton, was the first) have been dashed after Toni Morrison gave her endorsement to Sen. Barack Obama. Not only that, now the Kennedy clan have also decided to endorse Barack Obama.

Are endorsements really effective in a presidential election? Does anyone really care what a writer like Toni Morrison thinks anymore? Most Americans consider artists, writers and Hollywood types to be on the fringe of politics; to be ignored and ridiculed, not to be taken seriously. And what of the Kennedys, a political family clearly in their twilight years? Ted Kennedy is viewed both as a liberal lion and a buffoon. Does his endorsement carry any weight?

Fred Thompson Drops Out

Not surprisingly, former Senator Fred Thompson has dropped out of the race after finally realizing he had no chance of winning the Republican primary, let alone the White House. Thompson’s poor showing in the primaries was not the result of lack of ideas, or charisma—it was heart. To be President, you got to ask for the job, even beg for it. Thompson did neither of these things and the voters noticed. That’s why he lost.

For a trained lawyer and successful actor, he was often ill prepared, both in debates and on the campaign trail. Hardly a confidence builder. He definitely looked the part—tall and authoritative—but he couldn’t play the part. And that was his undoing.

I don’t know what he’s going to do now. Can’t go back to Law & Order since there is both a writer’s strike and the fact that Jack McCoy, played by Sam Waterston, is now the new DA.

Unfounded Fears Of An American Theocracy

M. Abdul Hafiz, columnist for The Daily Star, proffers his opinion on who will be the next President of the United States. Like most international commentators, he leans Democrat, of course; and naturally he’s weary of Republicans, especially of Huckabee. He writes:

The US constitution, in its first amendment, prohibited state support for the establishment of a religion -- a stipulation further articulated and reinforced by Thomas Jefferson, the third US president. However, much of the recent invocation of religion can be attributed to the increasing enthusiasm of the fundamentalist Evangelical Christians. Their activities were openly promoted by the Republicans during Bush's presidency, which, inspired by the neo-conservatives, produced a heady mix of religion and politics. The result is that an obscure Baptist Christian preacher Rev. Mike Huckabee surged forward in the polls in Iowa on the strength of his religious background. This trend has already distorted the secular character of American polity. Unless checkmated, the entire civilisational achievement of the great nation will be at stake.

Fundamentalist Christians have been involved in American politics off-and-on since the United States was founded, but they’ve never been successful in turning the United States into a theocracy that Mr. Hafiz fears. We can thank the Founding Fathers for their vision: first, for separating religion and government, which was a novel idea in the 18th century; and second, for constructing a constitutional mechanism— a system of check and balances—that makes a theocracy almost impossible. If somehow Huckabee became president, the prospect of American turning into a “Christian” nation would be next to nil.