Looking Forward, Not Back
Tuesday night I turned off the coverage after Ohio was called for Obama. I just couldn't bring myself to watch it any more – I was too emotionally connected to the outcome. After some thought over night and Wednesday morning, I decided I do not want to be bitter. I do not want to be the same as the "Bush haters" that could not get over the 2000 election and dwelt upon that for both of his terms. As hard as it may be, I think, I hope, that I can rise above that.
I maintain regular email communication with a high school friend of mine. He's a centrist, leans left on social issues but is a fiscal conservative. He and I have many vigorous and stimulating political discussions.
Here's the message as sent to him Wednesday morning:
So, I'm going to remain positive about the future and see what happens.
I've decided I'm going to try (and it will be hard) to not be bitter about the results.
I'm going to strive to measure President Obama (the first time I've put those two words together on my own) by his actions, and not by his past.
- how he arranges his cabinet
- how he works with Congress
- whether or not he "reigns in" the far left segment of his party
- etc
Despite my misgivings, we are a Democracy and he was elected. I think the process was flawed, I think he raised money illegally, and I think that ACORN and other such organizations may have introduced illegal votes intro the process. But the outcome is the outcome.
I went through 8 years of the Clinton administration hating our President. And I don't use that word lightly - I thought he was the Devil incarnate at the time.
Although I may still feel that way about Obama, I refuse to dwell upon it. Let's see what happens.
posted by subbob @ 3:51 PM
2 Comments:
wow that is very balanced of you... what do you think now?
found you via twitter via #edemcamp..
Silona - Thanks for the comment. My personal principles have not changed, I'm still a believer in limited government, fiscally conservative and somewhat socially conservative.
However, I am encouraged by the increased participation in government, the move towards "Government 2.0" and transparency initiatives.
Personally, I'm talking to people - mostly virtually - that in the past I've not communicated with. In many cases the set of common interests is larger than our differences.
I do get concerned when Congress and the Administration seem to act as if their agenda was supported by 80-90% of the population, and not the 53% that elected President Obama. That will only lead to a vicious cycle of "our side, their side" ping-pong, while not addressing the root causes of the ideological differences.
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