December 2, 2008 [LINK / comment]
It's been nearly a full month since the historic election of Barack Obama, time enough for everyone to calmly reflect on what has happened and what this means for the future. Those and the right as well as the left have to decide whether they are going to take the high road (gracious losers or magnanimous victors, respectively) or take the low road (sullen whiners or gloating triumphalists). At this perilous moment in history, it means everything to our country whether the Republican Party can go back to its former, humble role of playing the "loyal opposition," and whether the Democrats can refrain from the temptation to wreak revenge.
Note that I have self-consciously avoided much of the blogosphere for the past few months (partly out of necessity during my October travels), but now it's time to wade back into the proverbial "muck."
Phil Chroniger gets it.
"Kestrel9000" doesn't.
Deona Landes Houff gets it. (The December-January issue of EightyOne magazine is not yet online. Read the final page in print.)
Greg Leteicq doesn't get it at at all.
J.R. Hoeft ALMOST gets it. (He rightfully rebukes those who wallow in Reaganesque nostalgia and urges the GOP to stick to its basic, positive message, but forgets that parties have to be accountable for their elected officials' actions.)
Carl Kilo doesn't.
This is just a partial list, and I'll probably do another evaluation soon. I noticed that other conservative blogs have ceased activity since the election. I hope this is because they are seriously rethinking their approach to politics and not because they are giving up entirely on conservative politics.
In Georgia, incumbent Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss prevailed in the runoff election against Democratic challenger Jim Martin, by a surprisingly wide 57% - 43% margin. This victory assures that the Democrats will not have a 60-seat filibuster-proof majority in the upper chamber of Congress. The runoff election was made necessary by Georgia law, which requires that a candidate must get an absolute majority of votes to win, and a third-party candidate prevented that from happening on November 4. See CNN.com. Whew! Meanwhile, the razor-close race in Minnesota between Republican incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman and hot-head Democrat Al Franken has yet to be decided...