Yet ANOTHER Take on the Election-a personal perspective

My parents are unabashed Republicans. I grew up during the era of Reagan and George H.W. Bush, during the Cold War, before the 24 hour news and internet of today. While the Democrats were bumbling their way through numerous presidential defeats, Reagan presided over one of the most prosperous times in American history. While his policies would, ultimately, lead to the recession that denied George H.W. Bush a second term in office, Reagan was the standard bearer for Republican presidents (warts and all). He and Gorbachev developed a rapport that resulted n the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. His back door dealings, as illegal as they were, resulted in the freeing of the American hostages held for almost a full year in Iran (and one of the kidnappers was the current Iranian president!). Having been weaned on Reagan's America and the careful lessons of my parents, I registered as a Republican when I turned 18. I voted for Bush in the first Clinton campaign, but I attended the Clinton inauguration. There was a sense of change in the air, a sense of hopefulness. Hand in hand with a Republican Congress, Clinton's administration presided over the most prosperous economy the country had ever experienced. After the first four years of William Jefferson Clinton, I cast my first ballot for a Democrat and felt justified in my decision. Dole did not represent progress the way that Clinton did. Clinton produced results (except for the universal health care initiative spearheaded by the First Lady).

Right around the time of Clinton's second term, when the first allegations about Clinton's marital infidelities started to make their rounds, the first cracks in the leadership and ideology of the Republican Party started to make their presence known. In their kowtowing to the ideologies of the far right, they forgot about their more moderate party members. Now, I am not in any way, shape, or form condoning adultery. However, Clinton's success both on the world stage and for this country should have been the focus and not what he did on his private time. Many of you would disagree, and say that the President is a symbol. I agree. However, the symbolic "purity" of the American President likely went out the door with my beloved Thomas Jefferson and his dalliance with Sally Hemings, a woman who was NOT his wife. The office is just that...an office. Placing the man on some sort of moral pedestal is rather asinine.

But I digress. This alliance of the Republican Party with the far right slowly started to make its presence know during Dole's campaign. Rather than focusing on the issues at hand that were concerning most Americans (growing unrest overseas, the unregulated financial markets, etc.). they chose instead to focus on Clinton's private life. This did not improve during the contest between George W. Bush and Al Gore, as the election debacle of 2000 showed. Through cunning and subterfuge, the Republicans stole the election. What the heck? This was not the party that I signed up for! This was a party who was looking for power at ANY cost-even where that cost would be the welfare of the American people.

And then 9/11 happened, and Bush rose to the occasion. He and fellow Republican Rudolph Guliani, the outgoing mayor of New York City, symbolized leadership when the country most needed it. Bush calmed our fears, told us everything would be all right, and took some action to calm the world. He was our president. The only problem was that he was just not smart enough to recognize that all of his own actions were being carefully controlled and orchestrated by the Republican leadership. After 9/11, Bush failed as a leader, using the attacks as an excuse to invade a sovereign nation without any provocation other than a bit of name calling. He ignored the growing financial problems at home and discarded Clinton's budgetary means for eliminating the national debt within our lifetime. At the same time, in the back of my mind, I could not ignore my own misgivings about the fact that he had STOLEN the election. As young men and women died in the mountains of Afghanistan and the deserts of Iraq, the pockets of the Vice President (a Haliburton board member) and many of Bush's oil cronies were being lined with money made possible by the war-blood money.

The issue with Kerry in the election of 2004 was not the "stupidity of the American people" but, for me, was one of the devil you know versus the devil that you don't. The American people were faced with two choices for President who, on paper, looked a lot alike. Older white men, Yale grads and fellow Skull and Bones members. If you have seen one, you have seen them all. The images of Bush's leadership during 9/11 and the constant beating of the drum for consistent leadership during the military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq cost Kerry the election. However, my enduring memory of that election was the "Swift Boat Veterans" advertisements orchestrated by the Republican Party. At that moment, I knew that the "Party of Lincoln" had lost its way. However, there was one bright spot during the dark days of 2004. During the Democratic National Convention, a young junior senator from Illinois was chosen to give the keynote address. Most people outside of his home state did not know who he was, but those of us lucky enough to have him represent us in the Senate knew of his oratory skills and his amazing credentials. Columbia undergrad and Harvard Law School. Head of Harvard Law Review. Professor of Constitutional Law at the prestigious University of Chicago School of Law. A self-made man in every sense of the word who was NOT born with a silver spoon in his mouth but who had an amazing brain.

That night, Barack Obama was introduced to the world, and the world took notice. Using that speech as a springboard, Obama catapulted himself into the national consciousness and with one fell swoop, was placed on the short list of viable presidential candidates for the Democratic Party. When the time came to select the Democratic candidate, the list consisted of Senator Hilary Clinton, John Edwards, and, trailing both, Barack Obama. Obama, undaunted, carefully mapped out a campaign strategy that would give him the candidacy. The heated rhetoric that flew between the Obama and Clinton camps looked for a time to be just as suicidal as the actions of the Republican Party over the previous 8 years. Meanwhile, Senator John McCain, with no true challengers, sat back and watched. If anything, the lack of any real challengers for McCain was an albatross around his neck, for the contentiousness of the campaigns between Clinton and Obama overshadowed McCain's easy victories in the primaries. McCain should have used the extra time to come up with a message, a platform, and to vet a proper vice-presidential candidate. He failed miserably on all counts.

Now, up until the primaries, I was still hopeful for the Republican Party. I believed that if McCain separated himself from the current Republican leadership, he could bring the party back in a way that would resonate around the world. All he needed to do was denounce the alliance with the far right in favor of the more moderate Republicans. Bipartisanism at its best starts in the middle. McCain, however, did not do that. He embraced the Republican machine and used it to his advantage. He surrounded himself with the same right wing syncophants, those emboldened by their campaigns against Clinton, Gore, and Kerry. There was a smugness about the Republican Party, a disdain for the intelligence of the American people, including some of their own party members.

Obama's campaign was run like a perfectly-oiled machine. He surrounded himself with good people, people who KNEW what they were doing and believed in HIS message. This was not a case where there was a puppet master and a puppet. Obama was also not surrounded by "party people." Just from watching how well his campaign was run, I learned two things: 1) Obama would make a hell of a president and 2) he KNOWS how to surround himself with people who succeed at their jobs. In contrast, McCain surrounded himself with party people who, in their underestimation of the intelligence of the American people (and American women in particular), honestly thought that they could do anything and still win. The minute Sarah Palin was chosen as the Vice-Presidential Candidate, the minute chance that I might vote for McCain evaporated. You see, that was the signal to me that voting for McCain would be a continuation of the worst presidential administration in my lifetime. It would be run by the same puppetmasters in control of Bush. Sure, I would pay higher taxes, but "what does it profit a man to gain the world, yet lose his soul"?

In the end, I believe in Barack Obama. His victory tells me that it is possible for ANYONE born in this country to become president, even someone like me, the child of immigrants from South India. His victory also signals to the world that they should not give up on the United States. For the first time in a long time, I am looking forward to a new administration.

Disclaimer: these are my own views of the events that occurred over the last 20 years. I am sure that people will disagree with my take, but I don't care. That is what makes a blog a wonderful thing!!