Post Mortem

Well the election is over, and it didn’t go the way I hoped. That’s ok – you win some and you lose some, and I had won the last couple so I was due I suppose. The world doesn't revolve around me, the people have spoken, and all that. Anyway I thought I would jot down a couple of thoughts about this election, which might be interesting to read in four years to see if my fears came true or if I was more worried than I needed to be.

Fears:

• Most importantly I fear that the pro-life movement has basically lost the battle for at least my lifetime. I predict that the aging liberal members of the Supreme Court will see this as a good time to retire. Barack Obama will appoint young activist judges in their place, which will easily be confirmed by a Democratic Senate. Therefore Roe v. Wade basically stands for my lifetime.

• I fear that raising taxes during a time of recession will bring about a depression. I fear the fact that Pelosi, Reid, and Obama, none of whom I have a lot of confidence in, are the three leaders of our country now in a time of economic downturn

• I fear that Iran will attack Israel to “test the mettle of this guy” as Joe Biden put it. And that he won’t pass the test and will instead enact a naïve foreign policy whereby he “talks to our enemies” giving them more credibility than they deserve

• I fear that we’ll pull out of Iraq too quickly, even after the surge has the effort succeeding.

• I fear that talk radio, the only source of conservative thought in American life today, will take a hit because the “fairness doctrine” will be reenacted. George Will (not exactly among the more fevered on the right) has predicted this:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/17/AR2008091702975.html

Unless McCain is president, the government will reinstate the equally misnamed "fairness doctrine." Until Ronald Reagan eliminated it in 1987, that regulation discouraged freewheeling political programming by the threat of litigation over inherently vague standards of "fairness" in presenting "balanced" political views. In 1980 there were fewer than 100 radio talk shows nationwide. Today there are more than 1,400 stations entirely devoted to talk formats. Liberals, not satisfied with their domination of academia, Hollywood and most of the mainstream media, want to kill talk radio, where liberals have been unable to dent conservatives' dominance.

I'm not a nut - I believe these are legitimate fears. I'm not going to be consumed by them, but I do have them. However....

Hopes:

• I hope all of my many friends who thought that an Obama presidency will be an inspiration were exactly right.
  

• I hope that having an African-American president will put an end to some of the racial tension that still exists in this country.

• I hope that Barack Obama has a successful presidency. I have heard some people say that just as Carter brought about Reagan, Obama will bring about the next Reagan. That thought has crossed my mind too, but in order to hope that I would have to hope for bad things for my country for the next 4 years. I can’t do that, because I love my country. I’m rooting for Barack Obama all the way. He’s my president now – or at least he will be in January. I’ll pray for him daily and hope that he does well.

• I hope that if a chunk of my fears come true, we do indeed have a new Reagan on the scene in 4 years.

Thoughts/Notes:

• Bush will probably go down in history as a better president than he is perceived as today. The economy was robust during 7 of his 8 years. History will show that the Fannie/Freddie crash was not really his doing, even though it's typical to blame the current administration for such things. The war, though tedious, did depose the Taliban and Saddam Hussein. Both are things that needed to happen, even though war is awful and messy.
  
• I think Bush's inability or unwillingness to answer his critics may be the biggest reason Obama won. The "Bush Lied, People Died" sentiment was itself a lie. The intelligence gathered by intel agencies all over the world agreed that Saddam had WMDs. But Bush never really answered his critics, and a lie repeated endlessly without being answered is perceived as true. Therefore it's no wonder that so many people thought we needed a change.
  
• I suspect the split in the evangelical vote probably maps pretty closely to the evangelicals who like Brian McLaren and Rob Bell and those who don't. It would be interesting to see data on this.
• I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the "data can lie, but my feelings are reliable" mentality.
  
• Those of us who hoped that the election would turn out the other way have a responsibility to our kids to demonstrate where our hope really lies by not being completely bummed out for the next several months (or years). Let's get through the mourning process as quickly as possible and get on with life! Life is way more than politics, and we have had an unhealthy dose of politics in the last couple of years.
• We should pray for President-elect Obama. He has a big job, and he needs wisdom. We should encourage our kids to do the same.
• I think a friend of mine's prediction that "there will be violence no matter who wins" is absolutely wrong and am anxious to say "I told you so". I am personally feeling an especially strong urge to be a good loser and congratulate as many Obama supporters as I can find today.
  
• I'm ready to get my free pony!
  

I certainly think that we as a country made an error yesterday. But I’m absolutely willing to eat crow if I turn out to be wrong. And I hope I’m wrong.

Oh and I have to add, God is sovereign and will provide. He is still in control. Everything is going to be alright. :-) (Love that website!)

In all seriousness, my team lost but I am not despairing. My hope was not in John McCain but in the King of kings. This is actually an easier thing to remember when your guy doesn't win, so it's a blessing in that sense.

The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases. -- Proverbs 21:1

I'm just glad that now I can have my mind back and start thinking about something other than the election!!