I always had an unsettled feeling regarding Senator John McCain. He has served honorably for this country. As a member of the military, I revered and saluted his service in the Navy. He is, however, not a conservative. He never has been. He has made it painfully clear he always preferred to stick it to conservatives in the name of "reaching across the aisle." Never mind that legitimate compromise would require meeting in the aisle. Even as the campaign wound down, it seemed as if he had adopted and indifference to victory. Sarah Palin is passionate. She is competitive. She wanted to win. It showed in the concession speech. She was holding back tears. She believed. John McCain has been here before. Liberals vote for liberals. Conservatives vote for conservatives. He claimed that he could fashion some super-party of people in the middle. But in failing to differentiate himself from Obama adequately, he provided no real alternative to a "historic" vote for a black president. (Never mind that is a ridiculous reason to vote for anyone, for anything.) But, I'm still happy. Here's why.
- As my title suggests, this can be viewed as a conservative victory. Why did McCain win the primary? I would argue that legitimate conservatives split their votes among Romney, Huckabee and Thompson. This three-way fight left the spoils to the last man standing. Perhaps, we can finally shed the notion that moderates are needed to win. We're conservatives - let's just run with that. I'm holding out hope that faces like Jindal and Palin will be the new face of the Republican party. Let's not forget that Reagan ran as an unabashed conservative in 1984 against an unabashed liberal. He won 525 out of 538 electoral votes.
- I mentioned that unsettled feeling. Well, now it's over. America is solid and expansive. It has outlived awful presidents before, and it will again. America is made by its people. They tend to survive even their own mistakes. A robust, triple-branched, publicly-accountable system like ours can never stray too far from its roots. Sure it might hurt sometimes, but there's always tomorrow.
- Every day of every week for the past nearly eight years I have had to endure watching a man whose ideals I share (mostly) and whose resolve and dedication I admire get unfairly excoriated by the media. So much so that it is popular to do so for our own personal kicks now. So what if Congress approves the legislation he signs. It's easier to rip one man to pieces than a large legislative body. (Of course their approval rating is even worse.) Guess what? Bush-bashing dies this January. Democrats run the House. Democrats run the Senate. Democrats run the White House. Guess where all that inevitable mud is going to land? It's little consolation, but at least we'll have a reprieve as we prepare for 2012. (And the mid-terms before.)
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