http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onnuWHdWLWQ

     As I was watching Hardball with Chris Matthews last night I couldn't help but see the dust-up between Pat Buchanan and Mike Paul; a black Republican strategists. The exchange between the two highlighted the current state of influx for the Republican Party and the deep divisions that are becoming more pronounced with each passing day. What many are missing is not that the Republicans lost; it is how they lost and why they lost that should be examined. I am not sure that they have the willingness or the humility for self-examination and without self-examination there can be no change. The struggles within the Republican Party are not new; it is just that they were able to mask them behind their "cultural wars" and false patriotism. Now that those rhetorical arguments have been ignored by the electorate the party is being exposed for who they truly are.

"In record numbers, Americans voted on Tuesday for a skillful presidential nominee promising change, but "change" should not be confused with a license to raise taxes, drive up wasteful government spending, weaken our security, or give more power to Washington, Big Labor bosses and the trial bar. Americans did not vote for higher taxes to fund a redistribution of wealth; drastic cuts in funding for our troops; the end of secret ballots for workers participating in union elections; more costly obstacles to American energy production; or the imposition of government-run health care on employers and working families."  - John Boehner Washington Post

     Did this guy see the same campaign and election that I saw? In the campaign that I saw President-elect Barack Obama laid out in no uncertain terms what his agenda was and what he wanted to accomplish. There were no hidden innuendos or code words; he stated as a matter of fact what he felt the government's role was and how he planned to implement that role. And despite Mr. Boehner's claims to the contrary, the majority of the American public voted to accept this candidate and his agenda. We have seen for the last two election cycles the electorate's repudiation of the Republican ideas and their tactics and yet they continue to believe that nothing has changed. Many of them feel that the reason they lost was because they weren't right of center enough. If this continues this Party will be replaced by another one and they will become strictly a regional and rural Party.

     It is amazing to me how the Republicans and all of their right-wing friends are trying to minimize the total repudiation they and their policies received at the hands of the electorate. According to these "objective" viewers there was no political realignment. The fact that Obama carried states that hadn't been carried by a Democrat in years and put into play states that had been lost to Democrats for a generation does not mean that there was a redrawing of the electoral map according to these illustrious men. Their goal is simple to try and keep President Obama and the Democrats from enacting any sweeping legislation, instead hoping that they stay small and do little if anything. My guess is that they hope by trying these scare tactics and keeping the Dems thinking small that in four years if they accomplish little or nothing the Republicans can highlight how a majority Party did nothing to help the voters that elected them.

     It is now officially over. The name calling, the fear mongering, the divisive tactics, the shopping sprees and most importantly Joe the plumber's fifteen minutes of fame. If McCain had won could you imagine the exposure this guy would have received? He would have been credited with McCain's victory and maybe would have been offered a cabinet level position. He would have written a book about nothing, he would have made a record about nothing. Let's face it the guy himself was fond of saying that he knew nothing. America has spoken and the winner is...That One! And the loser is the politics of the past still fighting the cultural wars of that past.

     Now that the most historic election in American history has ended, can I speak honestly about the campaign? Even though I was able to recognize early on that this campaign was going to end the way it did (link) I have always been concerned about the makeup of the Obama campaign as well as some of the tactics that were employed at the state and local levels. I allowed myself to believe that because Obama had to rise above the race issue he surrounded himself with a staff that was primarily white not only at the national level but at the lower staff levels as well. I remember telling my parents that the reason I thought Obama was going to win was because the staff he employed at least the ones that I had met were whites that were non-traditional politicos. Many had not taken part in an election in many years, if ever.

     After tomorrow there will be plenty of talk from political pundits and talking heads that are probably a lot smarter than me about what went wrong for John McCain and the Republican Party. Despite the latest predictions by the McCain camp that he is "surging" this election will be called by 10:00PM CST for our next President Barack Obama. So as we await the results of the most historic election in our nation's history I would like to offer the Republicans my take on what went wrong.

That's where Black characters are brought in to serve as noble, wise, many times suffering, "guides" to specifically help the main White character understand or transcend some deep metaphysical concept, trauma or life challenge. Counter Racism

     As we get closer to the historic election of Barack Obama as the first black President of the United States I can't help but be concerned about a phenomenon that I sense is gripping the nation in general and many blacks in particular. This phenomenon made famous by various Hollywood films such as Bagger Vance, The Green Mile, and many others throughout the years creates a mystical black character who is able to transcend the realities of life and help a white character overcome some challenge or trauma. Looking at our current national situation I don't think Hollywood could have scripted this any better. If there was ever a time for a "magic Negro" now would definitely be the time.

"I love her -- she's just like me," said Pam Moore, a minister who attended the rally in Green on Wednesday. Moore dismissed the latest reports of the RNC-funded shopping: "They are just trying to find dirt, and it's sad that people are stooping that low." Washington Post

     That's right folks we are no longer in the real world, but we have been transported into the land of Reputian in the Land of Oz What has always amazed me about zealots; whether they be religious, political, or social is their incredible ability to suspend reality at a moment's notice. In order to be zealous about anything one must be able to ignore the reality they are in and transfer themselves to another place. Reality and facts are the hobgoblin of all zealots; they destroy the carefully crafted myths being parsed on the simple. For the zealot any facts that contradict the false narrative have to be reasoned away with utter nonsense to maintain the sense of outrage.

"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting;
it has been found difficult and left untried. - GK Chesterton

"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.
Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." - Mahatma Gandhi

    Despite all evidence to the contrary it appears that Barack Obama is not really a Christian. He is not a Muslim, but he is not a "real Christian" in "real America". As part of the McCain campaign's effort to "move voters away" from Barack Obama by any means necessary they have begun to employ a familiar refrain made popular by a Democrat. Senator John Edwards coined the phrase that there were "two Americas" to highlight the disparity between the wealthy and the middle-class and poor. Somehow I don't think he envisioned it being used like the Republicans are using it. You see according to them there are two Americas all right, one that is real and one that is "not real"? The real America is patriotic, hard-working, God-fearing, and lives in the rural areas of our country. They haven't quite defined what values that the "other" America has but one could imagine that they would be the opposite of their values.

     One of the many things that trouble me about the wealthy in particular and the Republicans in general is their apparent lack of shame for their blatant hypocrisy. For decades the mantra of the wealthy and their Republican mouthpieces has been the lack of personal responsibility of the poor. According to these people the problem with liberalism is that they have tried to use the government to "bail-out" the bad choices made by these unfortunate individuals and if they would only exercise some personal responsibility they would be alright. It is not the business of the taxpayers to support the bad lifestyle choices of individuals.

Lois Coar, the mother of two grown children, supported Mitt Romney this year and is undecided for November. She cannot see voting for Obama -- "not because he's black, but I just can't put it in words." She likes McCain as a person, but "I can't understand why he keeps talking about this Ayers guy" -- William Ayers, the 1960s radical who became an occasional colleague and supporter of Obama in Chicago. "He should be focusing on the economy and real terrorists; that's what people worry about," she said. Washington Post

     Ever since the much anticipated on again off again debate between the two Presidential candidates, there has been a lot of concern from Democrats and pundits concerning the performance or lack thereof from Senator Obama. Many people feel that the debate was full of "moments loss" for the Senator to "take it to" McCain. Many felt that after the disastrous week McCain had that he was prime for a final knockout blow. It's funny because I remember the week prior to the debate I was visiting my parents and jokingly said that if I were Senator Obama I would do something deliberate to anger John McCain and show that he was temperamentally unfit to be President. I had even jokingly and somewhat cruelly suggested that I would mention McCain's adopted daughter that Bush had used to derail the McCain candidacy in 2000.

"This election is not about issues," said Davis. "This election is about a composite view of what people take away from these candidates."
Washington Post

     So once again this election won't be about the issues from the Republican standpoint. I'm shocked! I can't understand why they wouldn't want to run on the issues. We haven't had a campaign debate about the issues in the last 20 years. The Republicans have gradually moved the electorate away from the issues and have made each election a referendum on some social issue beginning with the Nixon southern strategy. At that point it was a referendum on law and order and the civil rights movement. At which time the American voting public voted resoundingly against progress.

     A long time ago marketers figured out that in a consumer driven society the quickest way to sell a product is to put the "new" label on it. It doesn't matter if the product has changed or not. A case in point is how many "new" Cokes have there been? Every couple of years we are treated to a new release of Coca Cola under some new ad campaign and packaging. Marketers have learned that the majority of Americans will buy anything so long as it is "new" just because it is labeled "new". New and improved, under new management, and advanced formula are all familiar refrains of the marketers and have proven time and time again to be successful in attracting consumers. Unfortunately here in America we elect Presidents the way we buy products based on slick marketing and fancy packaging. Few of us have the time or the desire to investigate the people we elevate to the highest office in the land. The amazing thing about this is that we have just had the longest primary season ever and yet there are many people who claim they no nothing more about the candidates than what has been dished out by the tabloid journalists.