Uneven Steven's 2008 Political Wrap Up

Just to close some loose ends from the election:

Barack Hussein Obama proved that America truly is moving past its racist past, and Americans will get over his middle name, though pockets of racism still persist. He also achieved election by being as hopeful and direct as Reagan, and being FOR something as opposed to being against something.

Nancy Pelosi won the Battle of the Alpha Females by using her lieutenants to push Sen. Clinton out of the Presidential race and getting President Obama elected. Though given Hillary's predominance on Foreign Policy as Secretary of State now, I'd say Hillary ended up ok.

George W. Bush finished the dismantling of the Reagan Coalition which he started by imposing tariffs on foreign steel early in the decade and accelerated by using the federal government to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case in 2005. Of course firing Don Rumsfeld at two years too late and getting new management at DoD didn't help; neither did his failure to override the poor decisions of Louisiana Democratic Governor Kathleen Blanco.

John McCain was doomed by his "Mavricky" past (thank you Tina Fey) which had alienated most of the GOP's campaign foot soldiers; everything. He will now return to being a thorn in the side of conservatives of all stripes.

Sarah Palin became an instant Rock Star with her speech at the Republican National Committee. She then imploded in a manner which will haunt her future ambitions. This implosion was caused either because (a) she's an idiot; or (b) she listened too much to her McCain campaign handlers, depending on whom you believe. I opt for option (c): Steve Schmidt didn't give her enough notice she would be the VP nominee and she was unable to get up to speed on the issues she needed to.

A Woman WILL become president in the near future. Both major parties have now nominated women as Vice Presidential candidates, and Sen. Clinton ran an amazing campaign that could've been won with better strategy and if Mark Penn had actually understood the nominating process.

Republicans continued to lose Congressional seats, further retreating towards being a regional (Southern) party; this is not good for Republicans or the nation. Arguments over rebuilding the party essentially now pit social conservatives (whose positions have driven away the moderate middle) against libertarians and others whom the party has marginalized, and whom the social conservatives can't tolerate. IMHO leaving the social conservatives ascendant will doom the party for years to Minority status.

The Democrat Party became more ascendant by becoming a somewhat bigger tent (most of their gains in the last two cycles came from electing more conservative Dems in Congressional Districts that usually go Republican). However, these conservative Dems will be rolled repeatedly by Speaker Pelosi and her liberal California allies in their quest to rollback every conservative achievement from the Reagan-Gingrich era.