After the Election

Counting chickens is something I struggle against, so when people tell me that Obama is going to win, I silently pray that all this confidence does not stir up the gods against us. I hope Obama/Biden is the winning ticket on November 4th, and I hope it is a clear victory so we have no repeats of the stolen 2000 election.

Having said that, I hope the winners reach out emphatically to those moderate Republicans who hate what has happened to their party and who struggle to maintain their integrity and their dignity. There are many of them; they've just been lost in the awful quagmire created by the presidency of George W. Bush. Under Bush, science is suspect, as is any criticism of American policy or law. Business, instead of being the backbone of a healthy economy, has become the evil genie that congress and the president let out of the bottle.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if Barack Obama reached across the aisle to the best and the brightest of the Republicans and asked them to fill some cabinet positions and other positions in his new government? Wouldn't it be thrilling if those of the Democratic party saw the wisdom in this instead of pushing for exclusive ownership of all appointments? How about Colin Powell for Secretary of Defense? If ever a man served his country honorably, even as he was being sabotaged, circumvented, and lied to by the Bush administration, it is Colin Powell.

Listen all you Democrats out there, instead of seeking revenge for all past perceived slights, why not take the high road? Why not begin to put an end to this unproductive warfare between the parties? If the Democrats do not behave responsibly, they will find themselves right where the Republicans are in four years. People are tired of the bickering. Nothing gets done. Put your country first instead of your party. Be magnanimous. If you don't support moderate Republicans, the whacko Republican fringe will become more bitter and manage an even tighter stranglehold on the Republican Party. That will be a disaster, even for the Democrats.

And while we are speaking of Democrats: Hey, you guys, how about reining in your own lunatic element? We're all sick of it. We want people of calm, moderate temperament to work on our problems. The age of something for nothing is over, and we need to accept that.

I think Barack Obama is really a moderate man with moderate policies that will help the most people. I hope the Democrats who support him will let him lead in that direction.