Miscellaneous Musings on Campaign 2008

About 9:00 A.M., I went to my polling location and voted. I'm a registered Democrat, so you can figure how I voted.

I've been reflecting on this past Presidential campaign. Obviously, it comes down two ways. If Sen. Obama is elected, then his mostly positive message won out over the rhetoric of the opposition. If McCain is elected, then that event will only reaffirm the power of negative campaigning; the 2012 campaign becomes more negative than 2008 as a result. That's one of the reasons I want Obama to win. The others are: No more Reaganomics, no Sarah Palin near the White House, let the Democrats run things for a while--they surely couldn't screw things up worse than the Republicans. Well, let me give a less partisan view of this election.

If Barack Obama becomes President, it's his message for "Change We Can Believe In" that carried him to the White House. This theme could also be called the New New Deal. It's like two books with similar covers, but different content. Back in the thirties, we didn't worry about war, terrorism and national security--we were pretty isolationist back then. FDR could get away with hammering strictly on pocketbook issues; "a job for every man and a chicken in every pot." Sen. Obama not only has take account of the financial crisis, but he has to assure everyone about his views on the Iraq War, terrorism and national security. A far more complicated campaign strategy. "A job for every household, a big break on your mortgage, tax breaks for you, bring our boys home, and no terrorist attacks at home" are the themes Sen. Obama has repeatedly hit hard throughout his campaign. According to the most recent polls, this strategy seems to have stuck with the voting public despite the negative campaigning from Sen. Obama's opposition.

If John McCain wins, then this "victory" will only reaffirm the effectiveness of negative campaigning. If you think this 2008 campaign was negative, wait until 2012. That future election campaign will only be worse, and we will be worse off as voters. Ideas, issues, and messages of hope will be shoved to the back of a long campaign strategy bus. For Sen. McCain, votes for him are votes for what people don't want rather than votes for what people want. This strategy is an ugly way of getting elected on a number of levels.