2008 Presidential Election Post Mortem

Had he not picked Palin, this would have been a much closer election.

It's not so remarkable that Obama was selling hope; it's amazing that we chose it.

A lackluster campaign that couldn't incorporate the incumbent President plus a ludicrous VP pic that, while fueling a huge Flavor-Of-The-Week boost, ended up biting them right in the ass.

You can't bitch about the current state of journalism and also refuse interviews. Not even my step-father is that stupid.

When McCain's braintrust decided to fight for the right when the election had been definedas a fight for the middle a least a year previous -- all done.

And, if Rick Davis finds genuine employment in national politics he's got pictures of somebody. Fuck's sake, was this guy stupid. His gaffes to the media -- no other word for it, unless it's "unfortunate truth-telling" -- are legion.

"We wrote the VP's convention speech a while ago, just tailoring it in this weekend-long hotel-room grilling cram session"

"We want this to be about the narrative of Palin, not about the economy or issues"

Etc., etc. I almost wonder if he was a sleeper agent.

In other words, when McCain should've been cementing his "maverick" status with the moderates/independents, he picked W with tits as a running mate.

The worst thing that happened to McCain was president Bush. He screwed him in 2000, and he screwed him (and the country) again in 2008. Pretty much no Republican had a chance after the disaster that is Bush. What the Obama camp did right was embrace the theme of "change" and associate Bush with McCain.

McCain's biggest mistake was the set of morons he had for political advisers, who should be sued for malpractice. Not having people like Murphy around him proved to be fatal.

People kept saying that the 2000 team didn't merit resurrection because they lost him the primary, but of course they forgot how different a Republican primary is from the general election.

Community organizing. That's what went right. Obama's campaign is on point. I got an e-mail from Obama at 11:30 p.m. (before his victory speech) thanking me for my support. "We made history." That's how you keep people motivated, involved, and excited. YES WE CAN!

Congratulations my American friends. I think you made the right choice. As a Canadian, I didn't have a say in this election, but I am gratified by its result nonetheless. I only wish that any of our parties were capable of fielding a candidate with a fraction of the charisma that Obama posesses.

Time will tell if he can walk the walk, but for the first time in nearly a decade, I can feel my cynicism loosening it's grip, and among your neighbors, I don't think I'm alone.

Since this is a movie message board, I will end this by saying I think Tom Hanks said it best at the climax of SPR. "Earn this."

Enjoy the party Barry. You got a helluva job of work ahead of you in 2 months.

I'm thinking it had more to do with McCain being a simpering gargoyle with a dumbbot VP and Obama being confident, handsome and well-spoken. But that's just me.

What Diva said, although I didn't get that Obama e-mail.

Also, as has been stated before many times over, the Obama campaign simply had a greater grasp of how to organize/mobilize people over the internet and through new media than the McCain campaign did. It was not just the community organizing skills* or the use of the internet, but the fusion of both that won this for Obama.

It's definitely one that will be studied, and not only changed America, but I think changed American politics from a pure campaigning level.

And I really want to read the insider books about the McCain campaign that are probably going to start coming out by next summer.

*Eat it, Rudy and Sarah.

Edit: Since we're in the business of starting new threads, do we want to do a transition/end of Bush discussion?

McCain was the only candidate I feared and I mean going way back. I thought he was the only Republican that could believably break with Bush. I thought he was the only Republican that could appeal to the moderates.

Fortunately for me, unfortunately for him, he ran to the right (starting pretty much in 2004). Not only did this scare away moderates, not only did it tie him to Bush, but he's really not good at it and it made him look like he lacked convictions.

And his campaign was sloppy as hell.

I liked McCain back in 2000. I like him at the beginning of this election cycle and thought that I would be cool with him or Obama in the White House. Then he just lost his way. There are 3 glaring mistakes that come to mind:

"Bomb, bomb Iran"

"Drill, Baby, Drill"

Sarah Palin


I was glad, though, that when making his concession speech he seemed to be back to the old John McCain I had respected and wanted to at least consider voting for.

Well, as a believer in public financing, that sucks. This election pretty much killed it. Will be interesting what effect this will have on the next election.

America is still massively polarized, maybe even moreso. Nevada, Colorado, and New Mexico are now the property of the Dems so long as they don't screw up massively. VA will continue to trend blue. Republicans will learn not to take any state the Dem seems to think is competetive for granted. Mizzureh is no longer the belwether state. Ohio will trend further blue. Next time, Georgia, North Dakota, Missouri, Montana, Arizona?

Nation Finally Shitty Enough To Make Social Progress

...and thus does the pendulum swing the other way...

I consider myself to be fiscally Republican and socially Democrat. In other circumstances, I would have voted for McCain (especially if it had been the McCain-circa-2000 version that had been on the ticket this year), but the country frankly needs an Obama right now. He got my vote, and I'm glad that he won.

This Obama victory will hopefully be the long-term morale booster that this country needs. We've been depressed for way, way too long.

I just hope all the people motivated by this election stay involved in the process and don't think the job is done just because Obama got elected.

Did I mention that I want to gaily marry the Onion and adopt children with it?

Congrats you bastards!

Took you 8 years, but now... wow.

Now can you guys stop making fun of us?

No, there's always going to be something to mock us for. I mean, it's not like obesity was cured overnight! (It wasn't, was it?)

A lot of the differences between the two campaigns comes down to a few basic things:

Obama had a message and stuck to it. McCain didn't.

Obama thought long and hard before making serious decisions, like picking a VP candidate. McCain didn't.

But the single biggest factor had to have been the ground game. There were people canvassing for Obama in downtown Cleveland at 5:30 PM on election day.

The only thing I would have changed about Obama is I wish he had campaigned more in Texas. Last count I saw had him losing by only 800,000 votes. That's chump change in Texas. I think he could have stolen more of the Hispanic vote, and probably changed some minds in west and north Texas. Houston, Austin, and Dallas (fucking Dallas?!) all voted for Obama. Unsure of San Antonio, but I kind of doubt it. Huge Hispanic population there, and it typically goes Republican.

There are plenty of poor and minority communities in Texas that probably would have helped Obama steal Texas. He didn't visit any of those towns, and those people probably didn't get that excited. If Obama had spent some time in the panhandle and East Texas he could have turned the state Blue.

As for McCain, he fucked up when he bent to party pressure, picked a horrible VP, and forgot his appeal was his being moderate.

I never realized until today that every single presidential candidate since Nixon has been federally funded. Even Mr. Small Government Reagan.

How come US elections haven't been fixed if our presidential elections are federally funded? If I am a die hard Jesus freak, then I have every right to put as much of my own money as possible behind a candidate like Palin.

My libertarian side is cheering the death of public financing.

That picture makes me want to give Ron Paul a hug.

Here's a nice collection of today's newspaper headlines.

Just think...Texas going Blue.

Now that'd be a mandate.

...maybe next time.

I was here in Europe-Belgium spending the whole night with an amped-up Californian in exile, and got caught up in the excitement and significance of it all. Congratulations to all of you over there, this is a landmark that has its repercussions throughout the world history for years to come. It's a new era of inspirational politics, and I for one am glad (living in a country that currently has political rot all over) that you gave a clear positive sign to the world.
For now, my faith in humanity has been somewhat restored. Now don't let it all go to waste again, please!

Wow. He's nearly unrecognizable when not in drag.

Anyway, I'm happy you guys are happy. I hope President Obama does a great job. You guys need it.

I honestly think McCain wouldnt have had a chance running a maverick campaign.
Because the impression I got from this election is that far larger parts of the populace are core voters for either party, impossible to sway, than is given credit for.
I realize its important for the country, especially the media, to paint the picture of a back-and-forth fight, but at the end, I believe its not the voters that vote regularly that made this happen.
I think its the people that normally would NOT vote, which came out and voted, that gave Obama this well-deserved victory.

See, the problem is that only one candidate had the charisma, the attitude and the appeal to get people disenchanted with politics to the booth. Only one was able to convey something other than "business as usual" in a broad sense.
McCain may be a maverick by his own standards, or once have been, but thats all stuff only politically interested people know and can gauge.
For, lets say, a 20 year old who has seen, since the time he has consciously noticed it, a bush administration perpetrate crime after crime, there isnt even enough interest in finding out what that term "maverick" means, cause frankly, looking at McCain holding a random speech somewhere, you dont see it.
Obama managed to make those people have a second look, not for the politics, but for the idea, and the charisma.

He got people to vote that by all accounts wouldnt have been voting otherwise, which also means that these people are not really accounted for on the repulican party strategy, as can be seen by the suspicious change in red states going towards blue.
Why is that?

Its because before Obama, blue voters in a red state sat around in political lethargy, thinking it doesnt matter, thinking its all the usual crap, wallowing in their unimportance.
When Obama awoke that sleeping dragon, he changed the rules by which the game is played enough for republicans to not be able to use their usual stuff anymore.
Thats my impression. its not about swing voters, its about previous non-voters.

Awesome!

Heh, Conservapedia sure is taking their time updating their entries on Obama, McCain, and the election.

From DailyKOS:

Gloaters.

Watching Fox and other conservative entities shuffle their feet and mince words brings me no joy. I only want to hear from the most insane right fringe, and I want hysterics. And video.

Bill Ayers speaks
The biggest campaign issue for the McCain camp was a waste of time.
The cop line is funny.

I think McCain lost this three times/different ways...

The first was when he conceded to Bush in 2000. If he had stayed in it to the end of the primaries Bush may not have had a choice but to make him his VP over Cheney.

The second was when he hit the trail for Bush in '04, after that he couldn't escape his ties to W and gave Obama more than enough ammo.

The third was not when he selected Palin. But when Palin did the interview with Couric and the SNL skit that followed. It made Palin a joke and made McCain look foolish for picking her.

Seppuku.

Like in the primaries, Obama's victory was a combination of history, a strong campaign on his part, and a weak campaign on the part of his opponent.

McCain looked to the past. He saw how George W. Bush won and thought that was the only path to victory. I still think that if people hadn't gotten absolutely shitblasted by the economy, his pathetic smears may have worked. But once a serious issue smacked the nation in the face, it was hard to look at McCain's reaction and think his erratic behavior was the right decision compared to Obama's calm, reasoned demeanor.

Also, while Palin rallied the base, elections are won by independents and they hated that bitch.

This is just priceless.

Basically, a bunch of looney conservatives proposing to treat Obama the very way they deride liberals for treating Bush.

That's a great interview with Ayers. I like that he says "they made me a cartoon character" and is wearing a Riley T-shirt.

In a nutshell, McCain's campaign looked like it was run by Cybil. Every week he had a different platform: change, country first, fight...FIGHT!

What the hell did they expect?

Swice told me this morning he heard on the radio that the republicans are blaming the youth vote for "screwing this up". The youth vote? The youth is more informed than it has been for decades.

Our votes didn't tell our parents to go to hell; it showed what our parents did correctly when raising us. They taught us not to accept things as they were, that things could be different if we worked hard enough. Bravo to them!

Like someone said during the later stages of the campaign, Obama was strategic, McCain was tactical. Obama had a plan and stuck to it, while McCain kept trying to ride whatever wave was biggest at the time.

Don't know if this is off-topic, but did anyone else enjoy McCain's concession speech--not in a gloating way, but in seeing a little of the moderate McCain we used to know. To me, he actually looked more relieved than anything else, and he was quite gracious--more so than the boorish crowd he was talking to.

As someone who voted for McCain, I'm a little sorry he lost, but hopefully he'll be able to work constructively with Pres. Obama. I have my reservations about Obama's politics; here's hoping everyone in Washington can start working TOGETHER, not in opposition--the partisanship is tiring.

My wife mentioned that he looked relieved to me as well. His concession speech was superb, and the crowd that was there to hear him give it made me sick with their boos and cat-calls directed towards Obama.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but...
Wasn't that one of McCain's talking points during one of the 3 debates...I'm thinking it was the first one. I think the topic was Iraq, and McCain was trying to illustrate the difference between his plan and Obama's, kind of talking down to him. I vaguely recall a semi quote: "He doesn't know the difference between strategy and tactic..."

Exactly! I remember hearing that and almost swooning from the irony.

Fixed, thanks Swice.