Look for the Silver Lining

What I can look forward to in Obamerica

I had a quasi-sleepless night post-election, going to bed at 10:00 p.m. when it was pretty much determined that Senator John McCain had lost his bid for the presidency, and Senator Barack Obama had won. As is my habit when I’m troubled, I slept fitfully, waking up at 2:00 a.m., and did my usual insomniac meanderings, as I mulled over what we had to look forward to over the next four years of an Obama presidency.

I am among the minority of blacks who did not support Barack Obama. Dr. Martin Luther King so eloquently orated in his I Have A Dream speech, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” When I began gathering information about then Senator Obama back in 2004, I quickly determined that his lack of character was his greatest flaw, and the color of his skin his greatest asset. That opinion hasn’t changed, especially watching his actions—and the actions of those around him—over the long primary and general campaign. For me, he is not the embodiment of Dr. King’s dream, but a pretender to it, shirking any character-refining moments, and using race as a defense against any criticism of him by others. Shameful behavior in anyone, but particularly in someone who aspires to be--and has now succeeded as--the leader of the free world.

So, I now face the reality of leftist policies, higher taxes, and an accelerated slide into relativism and socialism that his leadership will no doubt embody. But even with all those dark clouds looming, I managed to dredge a few silver linings from them. Here are my top three:

We can no longer cry that America is a racist nation.

Obama's ascension to the Presidency should have now effectively eliminated the grounds for any argument that America has to pay for its racist past, and I have determined that the next person that tries to play this card, say that blacks can’t achieve because American society is against them, or attempts to tell me that I should be concerned about a racist agenda afoot in our life and politics, will be roundly put in their place. Come January 20, 2009, President Barack Obama, son of a Kenyan and an American white woman, will be installed as the 44th President of the United States. So let me be the first to say, Get over it!

Conservatism can only get stronger.

The most inspirational figure in this campaign was Governor Sarah Palin. She gave conservatives hope that in contradiction to the chattering class and their cries that the movement was dead, it is just the opposite. Conservatism is alive and well, and the further we separate ourselves from all the supposed Republican elites and moderates who feel it needs to be "redefined" the better off we'll be.  Where a socially conservative measure was on the ballot, it won handily, despite an Obama win.  This gives me hope that we can continue to defend conservatism at the grassroots, and allow it to continue to pollinate the rest of the nation.  Once the old tired guard dies or is elected off, we have the new faces of the movement: The Palins and the Jindals, ready to assist us in stemming the tide against a leftist government. We may be in the wilderness now, but the road back can only sharpen us and make us more effective. Twenty-ten and 2012 await.

Liberalism always implodes on itself.

We saw it after four years of Jimmy Carter, and after eight years of Bill Clinton. If liberals don't manage to overreach, they'll eat each other alive in their quest for absolute power--the primary election clearly illustrated this. While holding prayers for our nation to overcome what I consider a setback, I'll also just sit back and observe the meltdown, while finding ways to support agendas and candidates that will give conservatism a new foothold.

That's hope and change I can believe in.