ELECTION AFTERTHOUGHTS

Thank goodness it’s over!

That’s my first impression as I close the books on an almost two year long presidential campaign. I’m sure we will be swamped with post election coverage and stories; so I thought I would add my two cents worth before taking a break from writing about these sorts of things.

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I never thought I would see it much less experience it; but American voters just elected the first African American president in the history of this country. I’m sure this historic election will be well recorded in this country’s history books; but to be able to say that we voted in this historic election is a moment most of us who follow these things will not soon forget. And of course there will be others who will want to forget as soon as possible.

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My guess is that sooner or later John McCain will admit publicly that he made the wrong choice in selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate and blame her for his loss. Sometimes political convenience is not the smartest way to go. My bet is that had he chosen someone who had run against him in the Republican Primary as his running mate; he still may not have won; but the race would have been much closer.

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Sarah Palin will try and extend her 15 minutes in the spotlight into the 2012 election. And while she appeals to the right wing of the Republican Party; it will be very difficult for her to become a major player in her party. She will probably ride off into the Alaska sunset and will emerge again in a couple of years to try and regain her populist appeal with the right. There is no doubt that she liked the feel of the national spotlight and has been bitten by the “ego bug”.

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Having lived in Washington for close to 12 years; I think I have a pretty good grasp of the way Washington works. Unfortunately things do not change overnight and the change that President Elect Obama talked about will be much harder to achieve. One underlying fact is that it is money which makes Washington take notice. The big donors, the lobbyists, the large major corporations which in many cases are the ones writing ...