A Revolted Liberal

For the first time in my life, I cast a vote for the winning presidential candidate in 2008. I will be 51 this April.

I am a liberal. I knew Obama was more moderate than many thought he was, but I also thought that he had a strong commitment to some shared liberal ideals such as universal healthcare, an intelligent foreign policy that favors soft-power over militarism and that the foundation of this—and every—country are the middle and working classes, not the wealthy elites.

I now believe I was wrong about all of this.

I wish I had not voted for him.

I believe he is possibly the worst thing that could have happened to liberal ideals. He will forever be wrongly associated with socialism and liberalism and correctly associated with legislative putsches that will doom liberal policies in the United States for the remainder of my lifetime.

His legacy will be one of egregious failure and the ultimate repudiation of liberal philosophies. Republicans will run against him and his policies for decades.

And they will win. A lot.

And all he had to do was to show some strength of commitment; stand up in front of the American people and stand his ground; and be prepared to accept a partial defeat. Instead he has embraced Pyrrhic victories as his legacy.

The long, cold, hard conservative winter is upon us. And it could be that Spring may not come again for a long, long time.

Update: I wrote this piece over a year ago and sat on it. I didn't want this to be true. Now, I am certain that it is.

Obama is the Democrats George Bush, he will discredit the party for the next several elections.

Unlike the Republicans, Democrats can't get their stories straight so I don't expect any quick recoveries similar to what the Republicans have experienced. The only hope is that the Republicans so completely overstep their mandates that America wrenches itself away from their grasp and into…what?

There is no hope offered by any contemporary party. We need to be rid of both parties and replace them with at least three parties that more accurately represent the interests of Americans.

I hope we have the courage to once again strike out towards new frontiers, to begin building America again, instead of tearing it apart as we have since Nixon.

If we are to continue to lead, we must stop repeating the same old stupidities of the past.

And neither current party has any clue how to do that.