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The Day After: Thoughts on the election from the losing party. (NVGR)
SWE3tMadness | 6:00 PM on 11.05.2008 11 comments




After 21 months of polls, primaries, and nonstop coverage of the candidate's fashion sense, it's finally over. And even though I didn't support the man who won, he still achieved his victory fair and sqaure. Obama is now our president-elect through no other reason that that is what America wanted. As to what that exactly means, and what the circumstances behind those decisions were, I'm not nearly qualified enough to analyze that.

I left a comment on another post stating my intention to vote for McCain, and I followed through on that election yesterday, the first time I had ever voted in a national election. It's not because I'm racist, or I think Obama is a secret Muslim, or for any other immature, cosmetic reason like that. Obama, from what I've seen, is a terrific politician, speaker, and family man. I have no ill will towards the guy. I just didn't agree with any of his platforms, and I don't think he has enough experience to be President.

McCain wasn't my first choice for candidate, and I believe his campaign was run terribly. The ads he ran, his choice for VP, and his performance at the debates, all might've been able to stand in any other election, but for many voters, obviously paled in comparison to the juggernaut that was the "Hope and Change" movement on Obama's side.

But the Presidency wasn't the only position in question last night either. While the Democrats were expected to maintain their majority, what some didn't expect was to extend it as to almost reach the magical 60-seat mark that would allow the party to break any fillibuster in the Senate. Coupled with a Democratic (and arguably, very liberal) president, bills would get passed with little or no chance for opposition. This is something that truly worried me, and I would say the exact same thing if the Republicans were in this position. No one party deserves that much power over the legislature, and it all but nullifies the very reason for having a partisan legislature in the first place. Granted, that's assuming that all the Democrats vote one way, but that possibility of power is one temptation I do not want among our elected representatives.

Well, America wanted change, and it got it. Whether it will be a change for the better?...We'll find out soon enough.



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11 comments | showing # 1 to 11

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BulletMagnet's Destructoid Blog
Good to see a Rep who's not already trying to de-legitimize Obama's claim to the Presidency by blaming his win on the "liberal media." If you'd care to, though, I do have a pair of questions for you, in response to what you posted above -

1) I'm curious as to where you get the impression that Obama is "very liberal" - most every policy proposal of his that I've seen puts him roughly in the league of Bill Clinton, who was hardly a raving lefty. If nothing else, he built his campaign partially on "reaching across the aisle" and bringing the parties together - how much he does of this, of course, remains to be seen, but again, what has he done or proposed that would put him so very far to the left?

2) This one you don't have to actually answer here, but I would like you to honestly consider the answer, yourself - you said above that you would not feel comfortable with either party holding such a large Congressional majority. I ask, however, how did you feel the past several years, when your party held power in all three branches, and all but completely excluded any opposition to its mandates? Most conservatives I know were happy as clams while their party ran rampant, and have just very recently began distancing themselves from the goings-on of the Bush years, demanding "bipartisanship" from the party they refused to let into the room for a decade or more - I have no idea whether or not you're among them, but I'd say that this is one thing that every conservative needs to ask him/herself at this point, in order to understand how many liberals have felt for so long, and how we feel now.
SWE3tMadness's Destructoid Blog
"I'm curious as to where you get the impression that Obama is "very liberal" - most every policy proposal of his that I've seen puts him roughly in the league of Bill Clinton, who was hardly a raving lefty."

His health care plan alone puts him squarely in the progressive (liberal) camp, as does his stances on abortion and gun control. He also supports increased governmental restrictions on many industries and areas of the economy.

Most conservatives I know (and I know a lot of them) were happy when the Republicans controlled the legislature because they assumed that the party would pass measures that they agreed with. That obviously wasn't the case. Conservatives now identify themselves more as "conservatives" and less as "Republicans" because they realize that not one party will pass every law that they want. I suspect that after a few years, liberals will start to do the same.
BulletMagnet's Destructoid Blog
Well, obviously Obama's "in the progressive camp," and his basic philosophy is in that direction - I'm still not sure where the "very liberal" (or, as some talking heads put it, "most liberal Senator") stuff comes from - while his proposals fall on the "liberal" side of things, as I said, none of them go much farther than Clinton's did. Now, if he was proposing to immediately abolish for-profit health care and have Bush immediately tried for war crimes I'd figure you were onto something, but the fact of the matter is, he's not, at least for now, out to do anything all that extreme - again, that's part of what got him elected. So what am I missing here?

As for the latter part of your comment, perhaps the conservatives you know are different from the ones I'm acquainted with, but even as Bush was circumventing the rule of law, spending like a prodigal, sticking the government's nose where it didn't belong and promoting people who threw notions of both "qualification" and "morality" straight out the window, I heard hardly a peep of protest from GOP-ers and their ilk, not to mention that whenever I'd point something like this out I was, if not ignored, labeled a terrorist sympathizer and a bitter liberal hack. I'm sure there were voices of dissent out there, but I certainly didn't hear any of them, even as the administration abandoned every "conservative" creed you could name. The impression I got was that none of those really mattered anymore, and the excuse I got was that "9-11 changed everything."

Again, not saying this is/was you, but I know a great many who do fit that bill.
Loki Power's Destructoid Blog
I think its good Destructoid can have different opinions without senseless flaming.
Usedtabe's Destructoid Blog
@Bulletmagnet: I lean more towards the right myself, and I can tell you that I and many others where very upset with some of Bush's policies. Hell, even his supposed talk radio worshipers call him a neo-con(which, by the way just means new conservative, or in this sense not really conservative at all). There are some of us who even consider him a closet liberal when it comes to his excess in spending. Now, I personally only agreed with his tax cuts and the war. I'm sure if you talked to some of them, or maybe some other conservatives they would gladly tell you their opinion of him changed after his re-election. There will always be the people who worship the ground of any republican, good or bad, same as some on the democrat side. But a lot of actual conservatives do not care for Bush's behaviors.
Qalamari's Destructoid Blog
You can count me among those, Usedtabe and Bulletmagnet. I've been conservative since I reached the age of reason, but in my opinion, Bush 43 really let down the Republican party, for precisely the reasons Bulletmagnet was referring to. It's impossible of course, but I would be interested to know how many people voting for Senator Obama were doing so to try to stick it to Bush on his way out.

As for Obama's supposed centrism, I find that hard to swallow. For the most part, he's an unknown quantity... which I suspect is one reason for his astonishing popularity, as people could project their own hopes onto him. It's important to remember, however, that the two houses of congress have more power than the executive branch. As our hostess was pointing out, a democrat supermajority in both houses and a compliant President would have nothing to slow them down. It remains to be seen whether the president-elect will govern from the center-- but it's awfully hard to push something from the middle when you're standing on the left.

My apologies if this is less than coherent... it's been a rather long day. Also, if I might make a suggestion, perhaps a [NVGR] tag might be appropriate? Combo breaker picture aside, (Which is pretty damn awesome, by the way) this doesn't have much to do with the vidjamagames.
nebones's Destructoid Blog
That pic is so epic.
SWE3tMadness's Destructoid Blog
Qalamari, that's actually pretty much exactly the way I feel.

Forgot about the NVGR tag though, I'll get to that now. >.>
BulletMagnet's Destructoid Blog
@Usedtabe: I must take issue with your characterization of "liberalism = spending mindlessly" - liberals are at least as concerned with "trimming the fat" as conservatives are (IIRC Clinton is the only President since and including Reagan who even came close to balancing the budget). The difference is that we consider dead-end military projects and top-tier corporate tax credits, and not universal health care or public education, to be that "fat."

@Qualamari: You're correct that Obama's relatively new on the scene, but again, he's been telling us for some time now what he plans to do on a number of issues - granted, I'll be the first to say that he hasn't been specific enough on several of them, but on many fronts he's made it pretty clear where he stands, and I've seen nothing that puts him in the radical wing of the party. Once again, if anyone else has seen anything specific that suggests otherwise, I'm waiting to hear it.

Also, in response to what you say about it being "hard to govern from the center while standing on the left"...wouldn't the same thing apply on the right? Every candidate we elect is going to lean to one side or the other, so are we to assume that nobody is ever going to be able to keep himself in check and try to consider the other side's stance before making a decision? That's a bit of an overgeneralization, if you ask me.
Holyetheline's Destructoid Blog
I love you all. Loki Power is right. This is a very mature way to discuss things. We are a loving community... like a family. I'm glad Obama won.
Qalamari's Destructoid Blog
@ Bulletmagnet: Of course my statement applies to both sides. I figured that was self-evident. Unfortunately it seems as though you can't get elected in this country if you're too far away from the center, so candidates claim they're moderates even when their records show otherwise. Recall Bush's claims of being a "compassionate conservative," whatever the hell that was supposed to mean. The upshot is that candidates tend to hide what they truly are until after they get elected.

Regarding your other statement... I'm not neccesarily worried that Obama will flip out and go ultra-liberal. I AM worried that Nancy Polosi and Harry Reid will expect him to and force bills through accordingly, causing him to go along with the party or else. Like I said before, congress has more power than the president, and if one doesn't like the other, they can effectively make the other's efforts worthless. That's by design, that's the Check and Balance system we all learned about in high school. I guess what I'm worried about is the peer pressure aspect, if that makes sense. "Hey man, we're all gonna pass this bill, you in? C'mon, man, everybody's doin' it."

Maybe I'm just paranoid.


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 about me

Welcome, and enjoy the random ramblings of the rare "girl gamer". Mi blog-a es su blog-a. Just remember to clean up after yourself when you leave.

-About Me-

Outside the Interbutt, I'm a college student, currently majoring in Biology. I'm a huge science and math nerd, and like laughing at jokes that no one else understands. My chocolate cookies are the best in the universe, and I bake a mean batch of scones as well. I've been a serious pianist for almost twelve years now, and enjoy playing video game themes to show off my absolute geekiness.

As far as gaming, I'm a relative newbie, only having played seriously for about nine years, and then mostly restricted to Nintendo franchises. As a result, I happen to be a pretty big Nintendo fan, so beware of a slight fangirl-ish bias when I comment.


-Favorite Games-

Guitar Hero/Rock Band
Super Mario series
Paper Mario series
Yoshi's Island
Super Smash Bros. series
Resident Evil 4
WarioWare: Mega Microgame$ and WarioWare: Twisted!
Warioland 3
Pikmin 1 & 2
Pokèmon G/S/C & P/D
SoulCalibur series (II specifically)
Elite Beat Agents
The Legend of Zelda: OOT & TP
Tetris
Donkey Kong Country 1 & 2
Donkey Kong 64
Donkey Kong Jungle Beat
Banjo-Kazooie/Tooie
Mario Kart 64 & Double Dash!
Old-School 2D Sonic games


-Video Game Piano Repetoire-

(These are only songs I have memorized, my complete sheet music collection can be found here.)

Feel free to message me if you would like a link to any pieces or have a request. Currently, I'm not working on doing any recordings of performances, but if enough people would like to see one, I'd be glad to oblige.

Super Mario 64- Final Bowser Theme
Super Mario 64- Dire, Dire Docks
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time- Saria's Song
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time- Song of Storms
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time- Title Theme
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Midna's Desperation
Super Mario Bros.- Star Theme
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island- Athletic Theme
Super Mario Galaxy- Space Junk Galaxy
Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow- Gym Theme
Portal- Still Alive
Halo 3 - Trailer Fanfare
Final Fantasy X - To Zanarkand

NEW! Pieces currently working on:

Final Fantasy IV - Clad in Dark (Golbez's Theme)
Pokèmon P/D/P - Palkia/Dialgia Battle (SSBB ver.)
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island - Ending Credits


-Promoted Articles-

The Wrong Thing: The Root Of All Evil
Other Worlds Than These: Pokèmon
Music and Rhythm Games: A Classically Trained Pianist's Perspective
Feel the Hatred: Zant (Twilight Princess)
Instant Replay: Guitar Hero III
The Start of the Affair: Super Smash Bros. 64

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