It’s the day before election day and like, I’m sure, most Americans, I’m exhausted by this presidential campaign…eager for it to be over, almost regardless of who wins the White House. I yearned, throughout, for a more substantive discussion of the very serious issues facing our country, but there was very little of that from either side. What is, however, increasingly clear is that there is a real choice in front of the American people about what kind of nation we will strive to be; where we will put our emphasis in the next several years. Though I am not a fan of harnessing the coercive power of government to any particular social agenda, my instincts favor most (but not all) of what the Obama administration and its supporters on the left would also prefer. So, despite that personal preference, my vote has long been decided in favor of the Romney/Ryan ticket for what I believe it will do to foster good results in the more important(and more governmentally appropriate) and the more immediately urgent issues of economic growth, fiscal discipline, tax reform, and structural changes necessary to solve the entitlements disaster looming on the near horizon.
So, I hope the Republican ticket wins. Less important, I hope that Barack Obama loses. I had voted for him in 2008 and hoped that he would be a true agent for change and the pragmatist he was reputed to be. Instead, I’m afraid we got an inexperienced ideologue. I still find him an attractive personality, but I’m convinced he does not belong in the role of our nation’s head of state and our government’s chief servant. I would be enthused to have him as a delightful dinner companion or an enjoyable weekend houseguest. I would be eager to engage in spirited interchange with an obviously very intelligent, eloquent, and deeply commited person; but I do not trust him in a position of enormous power precisely because I do not share his convictions.
If I needed further convincing of that, it came a few days ago, where, at a campaign rally, in response to a comment from the crowd, he urged his supporters to “vote; it’s the best revenge”.
Really!?!
Revenge for what? What wrongs have been perpetrated, by whom, against whom, does he feel need to be avenged? And in what way would an election be the proper vengeance in any event. If you saw and heard Obama’s statement, it’s obvious that this remark did not appear on his teleprompter. It was instinctual, in the moment, unscripted, coming from the man’s gut, revealing him as the class warrior and unreconstructed community organizer many fear. It was an expression of genuine, unguarded belief not worthy of a man who should be President of all of the people of the United States.