Post Election Observations

The Republicans still don't get it! All I hear and read from the true right wing partisans is that they think they lost the election because they didn't attack enough! They feel they needed more talk of Democratic Socialism, more Joe the Plumber, more "Drill Baby Drill", etc. It wasn't the lack of specifics on the issues, it wasn't the choice of Sarah Palin for VP candidate (honestly, what were they thinking?), it wasn't the lack of a clear message to the American people, it wasn't the constant reminder that the Republicans focus their energy on the wealthy among us. If this is the mentality of the Republican party, it is my opinion that we will see Democrats in power for a while.

It seems obvious to me that both of the parties should be pandering to the middle, not the far right or far left. There are many among us that are one issue voters and they will almost always vote with the party that supports their position. Why spend time and political capital on this group? I understand you have to keep the bases of the parties engaged, but why is it that the issues alone can't keep the Republican base energized? There are many more among us, I believe, that are concerned with the bigger picture. It is my observation that these people fall somewhere in the middle. Maybe they lean a little left or right, but they hang around in that gray area between the hard core Democrats and Republicans. The more of these people that I talk to, the more I hear how turned off they are by the mud slinging and hate that always seems to rear it's ugly head in a Presidential campaign. We need calm, determined, and focused leadership at the top and in this election the Democrats and Barack Obama brought these attributes to the table.

Only time will tell if the Republicans can find someone like this that the masses can rally behind. If they think this person is Sarah Palin in 2012, they are sadly mistaken. We need problem solvers and consensus builders in the White House, not idealogues that divide the country. And they need to turn their attention to the 95% of people that don't make $250,000 a year! Corporations don't vote and there aren't enough people making that kind of money to elect a President on their own. I still can't figure out why hard core Republicans are so protective of the rich and how much they pay in taxes. The money has to come from somewhere and if the people that are most able to pay a little bit more don't, then it comes out of the pockets of the people that can least afford it.

As a long time Republican voter, I was embarrassed by the Republican effort and strategy (or lack thereof) in this election. It will be interesting to see if the party clings to these scorched earth tactics or changes to be more moderate and inclusive.