God is Not an Elephant

There is this notion in the Political realm that the Republicans are the party of Christian Americans. To the point now that Christians tell each other that you can't be a Christian and vote Democratic. My original intent as a Democrat was to outline the corruption, scandals, and hypocrisy in the Republican Party to illustrate how this notion is a total misrepresentation, but the Sunday before election day my pastor gave a sermon on this topic. Keep in mind I go to a fairly large predominantly White Evangelical Church. Our congrgation is agressively Republican to the point where McCain bumper stickers are outnumbered only by "NOBama" bumper stickers. There were a few bumper stickers that just said "Sarah!" I even saw one that said something about "Palintology" (which I thought was ironic given that her thinking does seem to be from a different universe). But I digress....

I felt the message that my Pastor presented is much more pragmatic and appropriate than what I planned to present so I am going to share those thoughts. I will post a separate blog post to include my own relatively objective, but of course Obama leaning commentary (which I would argue leans because of the facts not my personal opinion). I have also included a video of the sermon so that you may hear for yourelf and not be solely subjected to my summary of the message.

Before I start I must say, one has to wonder what prompted my Pastor to even do a Sermon like this one. There is talk how this topic is splitting up churches all over the country. So why even discuss such an emotionally charged topic. I presume he felt compelled for 1 of 2 reasons. 1) He was being pressed by the Congregation to come out and take a side on this issue, as his counterparts across the country had put out a rallying cry for White Evangelicals to get out to the polls and vote Republican. 2) He was so deeply disturbed from the type of chatter he was hearing full of hatred and devoid of any Biblical principles he felt some response was required.

the believer, the Bible, and the ballot box

I. Participate in the Process - 39% of Evangelicals do not vote, 50% say the Church has no place in Politics. The Separation of Church and State was not intended to keep Christians away from Politics. The intent was to protect citizens from the State (a.k.a the Goverment) imposing religious values

II. Vote Biblical Values - The Sanctity of Human Life, Justice for All, Peace on Earth, Moral Conviction

A) The Sanctity of Human Life breaks out into the follwing categories: Protection of unbornchildren; dignity and compassion for unwanted pregnancies; compassion for the elderly; how we deal with the handicapped or disabled; children dying globally each day of preventable hunger and disease; genocide; war; the dealth penalty

B) Justice For All breaks into the following categories: Candidate that will pay attention to the poor, focus on overcoming the scandal of extreme global poverty and the shame of such unnecessary domestic poverty in the richest nation in the world; demonstrate compassionate treatment of Aliens promoting an immigration system with comprehensive reform in ways that are compassionate, fair, and just; no tolerance for crime; foreign policy that seeks to rid the world of injustice.

C) Peace on Earth breaks into the following categories: Peace is a God-centered quality, candidate that works across party lines, strives to establish equality, regards God's favor on those Nations who have blessed Israel.

D) Moral Conviction breaks into the following categories: Candidates character and background matter; accepts responsibility for mistakes; will best exemplify and articulate strong family values speaking of sexual restraint and integrity, marital fidelity, strong parenting, and putting family values over economic values

III. Choose the Better Right - At the end of the day most candidates have the same goal, the difference is how they intend to get there. Choose the view that has the fewest difficulties.

IV. Ask for Wisdom - Vote based on a Christian World view, not a Traditional view (Proverbs 29:2)

V. Pray for our Leaders - All requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone. For kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

VI. God continues to Sit on the Throne - Our hope must remain in God, our leaders are never apart from the soverign hands of God (Daniel 12:20-21)

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Beyond Expectations

I can boast that I never once doubted Obama's Victory, but I must admit to doubting the potential for a landslide. Even with empirical data to support it, I just didn't think it would it happen until it did. So much so I even neglected reliable sources that predicted a much wider margin.

So let's look at what I predicted and what actually happened.

I predicted an Obama victory of 276-262. The actual results are 365-173. This actually outperformed even the most pro-Obama polls. So what happened?

The poll buster like a 15 seed in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament was Indiana. This was not shown as a win for Obama in any poll. Few polls even showed the race within the margin of error. This was a solid red state having voted that way since before I was born. 2 things happened in Indiana to help Obama win the state:

1) Voter Turnout: The Obama campaign having such a strong ground game in Indiana got word to the HQ that there was a chance in Indiana. Indiana being a neighboring state with a large part of the population basically considered Suburban Chicago. The Obama Campaign dispatched campaign workers and volunteers from states like Illinois and Wisconsin where victory was considered certain and flooded Indiana. Exit polls in Indiana showed that 37% of voters in Indiana were contacted by the Obama campaign, while only 22% were contacted by McCain. This happened in NV and CO also where Obama performed much better than shown in the polls. So it was more likely that voter turnout supported the victory than Republicans that decided to vote for Obama. The Democrats just got more people out to the polls than the uninspired Republican voters. The Democratic base was mobilized in this state becuase of the Primary Election where Clinton narrowly won, and the Democrats capitalized on this energy.

2) Reverse-Bradley Effect: There was a lot of talk about the Bradley Effect but it appears the reverse actually happened. I can appreciate this being in Texas (a Red State), where unfortunately Whites feel in the minority when claiming their intent to vote for a Democrat. I don't think these folks necessarily said they would vote for McCain, they more likely said they were undecided or not going to vote at all but in the end cast their vote for Obama.

So what else happened?

VA, OH, and FL. Ohio and Florida aren't total surprises as Democrats have won in these states fairly recently. More than anything Obama did "The Economy" and Sarah Palin basically handed these states to Obama. In these states people that had intended to vote for McCain changed their minds due to one or both of these issues and voted for Obama. Now in VA, I believe we have seen a shift in the electorate. Due to the margin of victory, and the fact that Democrats have prevailed overwhelmingly in political races here for the past 2 years this state may become a stronghold for Democrats. The Party must take note that the supporters in VA are Centrists (or Moderates) and maintain that position or the momentum may be lost.

North Carolina is somewhat of a cross between VA and IN. All of the factors I have mentioned came into play in this state.

The LANDSLIDE win is amazing. Obama won the Popular Vote by 8M votes and he won 28 states, DC, and even 1 Congressional District in Nebraska who distributes their electoral votes using the Congressional District Method. Equally as exiting as the states he turned BLUE NM, CO, OH, FL, IA, NV, VA, NC and IN are the states in which he collapsed the large margins the Republicans won in 2004. Looking at the map below it blends blue and red to make "purple" in many of the states that have been traditionally "red." Unlike the general electoral maps that show much of the South and Cenral US as "deep red" you will see Obama was competitive in essentially every state West of the Mississipi River and you see blue in purple in states like Montana............

A lot of gains were made across the board, maintaining the momentum that began in 2006. Obama and the majority Democratic Congress have been dealt a bad hand, but hopefully they will come together to make some real progress.

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Everything that could go wrong!

Sticking with my new theme of nailing my blogs down to 3 points, I am going to sum up my impression of the insurmountable task of winning this election for the Republicans:

1. BUSH: Or as the pundits would say BUSH BUSH BUSH as all 3 major reasons. Pretty much every human being in the W--O--R--L--D (and most animals too) are ready to see this Cowboy ride off into the sunset. Probably hoping that he would fall off the horse on his way out! I need not elaborate on his many failures. The problem for McCain is that he was campaigning against himself. He tried to appeal to the conservative base, he promoted many of the most unpopular Bush initiatives, he failed at any point to distinguish any meaningful issues in which he would turn us around from the failed policies of Dubya..
2. Caribou Barbie: At the end of the day, most would put the Economy ahead of this colossal flop, but there is not one person Obama can help more for his successful campaign than Sarah Palin. She appealed to NO ONE but the "extreme right" of the Republican Party. The Clinton supporters McCain had hoped to sway were essentially frightened at the thought of her being a "heartbeat" away from the Presidency. So much so, Obama raised $10M the night she spoke at the Republican National Convention. Most stating they were so inspired by her speech that they gave as much as they could to the Obama campaign to make sure to keep her away! What is funny is the move by Arizona Jones to pick a woman was a stroke of genius. When Obama was first asked about it, the look on his face was like, "Oh, this is a good one John, you got me with this one." Caribou Barbie was immediately labeled as unqualified, but that Katie Couric interview will go down in history as the catalyst to the unraveling of the McCain campaign. It was sooooooooo bad that even the SNL parody on the interview could not match how funny her poor performance was in the actual interview. She proved that she could make a good stand up comedian, but never outlined what makes her qualified to be the VP. She was unqualified, incompetent, and unknown? Lastly, the role of "sexism" in politics is strong, but Arizona Jones forgot that it exists strongest in his own party!!
3. Race and Class: At the end of the day the Republican Party has to realize that they need to focus a lot harder on voter turnout and voter registration than on voter suppression. The Republicans can no longer win elections completely disregarding minorities. Running around the country talking about Joe Six Pack, Hockey Moms, Joe the Plumber, Small Town America, and "Real" Americans to minorities pretty much sounds like, "C'mon White people let's stick together and let these Blacks, Mexicans, and all the other foreigners know that WE still control this country." If the Democrats get the full electorate out to vote every year they will crush this type of rhetoric every time. As for class, McCain never made the case for the Middle Class. He spent so much time talking about Obama he failed to articulate what HE would do. Obama spent so much time defending his plans because he a-c-t-u-a-l-l-y had some plans, McCain didn't have any and Obama is the one that was really saying the things that Joe Six Pack wanted to hear.......

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It's A New Day (The ClintonSlayer Strikes Again)

So I could have wrote this blog entry in June. As I said then was proven on the 4th. John McCain was not a formidable opponent in this battle. He breezed through little competition only to get in the ring with a World Class heavyweight fighter that fights regularly on HBO PPV. Clinton knew this, and that is why she so desperately fought during the Primaries; because she knew to the winner goes all of the spoils. So to keep this one short I want to discuss my thoughts in 3 simple points:

1. Obama wasted no time, energy, and resources trying to convert the minds of idiots. He realizes early on that his best asset was voter turnout; because there are more registered Democrats than their are Republicans so the goal is to get them out to vote. He sought after new voters, an energized electorate that stayed motivated because he kept them focused on tuning out friendlies! They remained motivated because they were not getting beat over the head daily trying to persuade idiots like "Joe the Plumber."


2. Obama played the game like no one has ever played the game before. This was like watching Jordan totally revolutionize the game of basketball, while at the same time bringing up the level of all players in all sports. They all benefited in endorsements, contracts, TV deals all because Jordan made sports exciting again. Obama has done this for politics. He out hustled everyone, he out worked them, he raised more money, he was more organized, he inspired a whole new generation to participate in the electoral process. When he looks over his shoulder it is like the Verizon commercial, "who are all of those people behind you?" "That's my NETWORK!"


3. Obama kept his head above the fray. He did not go negative, not to say his campaign did not at times, but you never heard it out of the mouth of Obama. In the 3rd debate when given the opportunity to "roast" Caribou Barbie he said he was proud of the fact that for the first time a woman was on the presidential ticket for the Republicans and he would let the American public decide if she was qualified. This after she had been on a Nationwide Comedy Tour in which the punch line was Barack Obama. To the point she was inciting passion filled chants of hate at her rallies like "kill him!" Caribou Barbie and Arizona Jones talked a lot of Barack Obama, while Barack Obama talked alot about rebuilding the Economy, putting Americans back to work, ending the War in Iraq, and overall making life better for the Average America.

The American people decided that they liked what they heard from Obama, and that at a time when a new generation of Politics and Leadership was required there was only one man to bring it!

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A Bluer America, but not for me..

This Electoral map was posted in the New York Times showing a county by county voting shifts. The redder the area the more people shifted towards Republicans, the bluer the area the more people shifted toward the Democrats. Looking at this map if you are in a red area you need to move; because the dark red is where they are hanging nooses...... Notice Destin is red, we may have to find a new vacation spot!!

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