Etalkinghead

No matter who comes out victorious in the presidential election on November 4, it will not be end of the world. It will not result in any cataclysmic events and the republic will not fall apart. Barack Obama will not transform the U.S. into an Islamic state, nor will he import communism from Cuba or socialism from Europe. John McCain will not start World War III or set off some kind of nightmarish recession. Obama is not the Antichrist, nor is he a Muslim. McCain is not a warmonger, nor is he suffering from dementia.

For the next four years, life will go on as it always has. Of course, try telling that to rabid partisans on either end of the political spectrum. I suspect that some of them will need to check into therapy for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) if their candidate loses. Those are the folks, many of them bloggers, who are so fanatical about their candidate that they can’t stand for one anyone to say anything nice about the other. Their candidate can do no wrong, while the opposition can do no right. They just can’t comprehend a guy like me, who generally has both positive and negative things to say about all political office seekers.

No matter what the wackos might say, I believe there will be a silver lining on Election Night for supporters of the losing ticket. In fact, I believe there is reason for them to have their own celebration that night — four years early! They can rest assured that their party will likely come out on top in 20012. Can you imagine Obama or McCain getting elected to a second term? I can’t. There is also no way, in my opinion, that vice presidential nominees Sarah Palin and Joe Biden stand a chance to be elected president. Of course, since I’m not a psychic, I can’t be sure that one them won’t become president due to the disability or death of the man at the top of their ticket. But even in that case, they would never be elected to a term of their own.

I don’t understand why right-wingers hate Obama so much or why the left-wingers feel the need to be so disrespectful to McCain. I believe all four of the candidates on the two major party tickets are decent people. I would be thrilled to sit down and have a drink with any of them (although it would have to coffee, tea, or a soda, since I am a non-drinker). However, despite their obvious good intentions, I just see them as regular people, not presidential timber, although one is obviously going to be elected president. I’m not presidential timber myself, but at least I have enough common sense not to run.

There are plenty of folks out there whom I believe would make good presidents. Among them are Ron Paul, Chuck Hagel, and Mike Huckabee on Republican side; and Bob Casey, Jr. on the Democratic side. Maybe we’ll get lucky and one of them will be nominated next time. But for the next four years, we’ll just have to endure an ineffectual, although fairly innocuous, presidency.