Get Over It!

After the 2000 election, many Democrats started lamenting the decline of democracy in America and asserting, “He isn’t my President!” Republicans largely ignored this as typical post-election bitching. Most conservatives took pains to declare that this was not a useful attitude, and urged the sore losers (as they called them) to deal with the loss and work on the next election. To their credit, most Democrats did just that.  A modest number of liberal Americans continued to grouse and complain at great and annoying length- especially on the internet. After a couple of years of this nonsense, conservatives got tired of hearing it and told the whiners to “get over it”. Conservatives asserted that they would not be so petty if the election had gone the other way. After the 2004 election, liberal whining continued unabated, prompting renewed calls from conservatives to get over it. Conservatives again declared that they would not indulge in this sort of whining nonsense if they were the group out of power.

Time to live up to the promises made when you were flushed with victory and smugly certain that you’d never be put in such a position, conservatives. As of tomorrow, Barack Obama will almost certainly be the official President-Elect. It is vaguely possible that the Electoral College will ignore the popular vote and choose someone else to be President- but it is a vanishingly unlikely possibility.  It is now time for conservatives to make good on their boasts about how they would deal with electoral defeat. After the Electoral College finishes voting tomorrow, I demand that every prominent conservative loudly and publicly congratulate the new President-Elect and announce their willingness to work with the new administration in the best interest of the country. Anything else would demonstrate self-serving hypocrisy.

Fortunately, my expectations are safely low when it comes to political activity. The Aluminum-Foil Deflector Beanie™ crowd has members throughout the political landscape. One need only look at the nonsense being brought before the Supreme Court recently (tip o’ the hat to Deus Ex Malcontent for the link). Take a good look at the folks described (and quoted) in that article. If you are a conservative, you should immediately and forcefully denounce these wingnuts forthwith- possibly even fifthwith. These people are bat-shit insane. If conservatives do not wish to be lumped together with this sort of conspicuous ass-hattery, they need to act publicly to distance themselves from these kooks. Aside from the utterly specious claim that Obama is not an American (completely debunked by reliable sources), these wingnuts also claim that he is a Muslim. My reply to this last is, “So?”

In the interest of full disclosure, I did not vote for Obama. I wrote in Joseph Worzlebacher and Jon Stewart. My politics are generally socially liberal and fiscally conservative, so I’m not fond of Obama’s legislative record and dislike many of his stated policy goals. My opinion (or anybody else’s) on the subject of his fitness to be President is moot- the Electoral College will make the final decision tomorrow.

For those of you who are dithering incoherently about the possible perfidies of an Obama administration, please remember that the President does not run the country. The President of the United States has sharply limited powers granted by the Constitution. The really dangerous powers are vested in the House of Representatives and (to a lesser extent) the Senate. Members of the House only serve for two-year terms. The Founders set it up that way on purpose, so the People would have greater control over their country.

Of course, the AFDB-clad members of the Republican party are unlikely to be swayed by facts or logic. To those people I say, “Get over it!”

Current status: Annoyed

Current music: Thick as a Brick by Jethro Tull