"It's Not The End Of The World"

For those of you out there lamenting the loss by John McCain and Sarah Palin, let me point you to a rare opinion piece by Steven Den Beste, probably one of the more astute political commentators I've come across on the web (with Bill Whittle being one of the other thoughtful and wise bloggers out there).

As Den Beste says, it's “not the end of the world.”

It's easy to let yourself go in despair and start thinking things like "We are well-and-truly f****d" or "This is the worst of all possible outcomes". But it isn't true.

I think this election is going to be a "coming of age" moment for a lot of people. They say, "Be careful what you wish for" and a lot of people got their wish yesterday.

And now they're bound to be disappointed. Not even Jesus could satisfy all the expectations of Obama's most vocal supporters, or fulfill all the promises Obama has made.

I think Obama is going to turn out to be the worst president since Carter, and for the same reason: good intentions do not guarantee good results. Idealists often stub their toes on the wayward rocks of reality, and fall on their faces. And the world doesn't respond to benign behavior benignly.

But there's another reason why: Obama has been hiding his light under a basket. A lot of people bought a pig in a poke today, and now they're going to find out what they bought. Obama isn't what most of them think he is. The intoxication of the cult will wear off, leaving a monumental hangover.

And four years from now they'll be older and much wiser.

As the saying goes, Read The Whole Thing.

I know my 14-year old son, BeezleBub is far more upset at the outcome of the presidential elections that either Deb or I. It may be because he's a bit more perceptive to the political realities than many other kids his age and understand what might happen if President-Elect Barack Obama carries out all of his promises. He does get quite a bit of crap from some of his classmates at high school for his political beliefs, but as he says they're just parroting what they've been taught at home and in school. The same claim could be made about BeezleBub, but he doesn't take anyone's word about anything anyone tells him, including me and Deb. He actually asks questions if he doesn't understand something and if it still seems stupid to him, he'll say so and why he thinks it's stupid.

Way to go BeezleBub.

But I have also been telling him the it's not the end of the world. I think after he reads Steven's piece he'll come around.