Top 5 Electoral Winners
by Kevin Van Dyke, Editor
November 6, 2008
Demockracy would like to present our list of the top five winners from Tuesday’s election:
5. Socialism
According to the GOP, Obama = socialist. Obama won a mandate. Therefore, if the transitive property (if a=b and b=c, then a=c) holds, then there was a definite mandate for socialism!
4. Young people
Never before has there been such a divide in the electorate by age–18-30 year old voters showed up in record numbers and voted more than two-to-one for Senator Obama.
3. The Midwest
The old rust belt went completely blue for the first time since 1964, the last time Indiana went blue. It’s amazing what can happen when the Democrats nominate someone from the heartland of America. When was the last time the Democrats nominated someone from a Midwestern state east of the Mississippi (e.g., Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, or Ohio)? Try 1956 when the Democrats nominated Adlai Stevenson. Outside of Kentucky, Obama won or might have won (Missouri) all states that border Illinois. The Midwestern strategy worked well for the Democrats.
2. Policy
For the first time in a long while (probably since 1992), Americans seemed to have picked their president based on real policy preferences, rather than on petty wedge issues where the president has no real influence. Was it the candidates, or did Americans finally realize they were duped by Karl Rove and company?
1. Community Organizers
Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin, do you know what a community organizer is now?
Well, I’ll give you a clue–you can call him Mr. President!!!
You are absolutely right. There was no coverage of the community campaigns by the MSM. This was the first time that there has ever been a local office in my little town of 10,000, and folks were swamping the office to help out. I personally knocked on more doors than I care to say, and there were phone bankers (on cell phones) there 10 hours a day (not making calls from 8pm to 10am–btw)! Also, I think you are wrong about the old people. There were dozens of greyheads at the HQ, and check out Biden next time you can. However, I am terribly fearful that Obama will abandon his principles to pander to the far-right while he governs–even though he won by running from the center left.
Good points, shabec. I knocked on my doors and called my phones as well (I still haven’t recovered my voice eh’.) And yes, there were plenty of greyhairs. In fact, my parents both got involved for the first time in their lives. My dad is in his 60s and had never knocked on a door before. I mean older voters more in the sense of a collective “traditionalist” group. Of course, there are exceptions. There were many 70, 80, and even 90 year olds that volunteered in this election. This statement should be more a reflection of the age of your personality. There are many “old” young people and “young” old people. It’s all a state of mind in many ways. It’s more a defeat for the “regressive” state of mind. And besides, Obama did win 45% of the over 65 vote I believe.