Nice Guys Finish Last

Greetings from the Left Coast, where we here at Left Coast Blues do the heavy thinking for those who just can’t be bothered.

It’s the day before the big election, and I’ve reluctantly concluded that Barak Obama will win tomorrow’s election. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am. Big money and big media have succeeded in selling the American electorate on the most liberal candidate to run for the Presidency in my lifetime. However, I do not believe that the Democrats will achieve a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, which means that Obama’s agenda will not be totally unchecked.

Incredibly, I don’t think that most people who are voting for Obama really understand what he stands for. And it isn’t because he didn’t tell us – it’s that it wasn’t widely reported by the media, and because people didn’t want to hear it. I predict that buyer’s remorse will set in fairly quickly when people see what his agenda really is, and that he will not be elected to a second term.

Still, unless the Senate’s Republican minority finds the cojones to stand up for their values, great damage can be done in the next four years, particularly in the nation’s judiciary, and especially in the two (at least) Supreme Court positions that Obama will get to fill in the next four years. Therein lies the greatest danger to our freedoms.

The most tragic thing to us conservatives is that John McCain could have won this, but he chose not to go after Obama where he was most vulnerable until it was too late. Certainly his campaign advisors have to bear a large portion of the blame, but ultimately the blame has to fall on McCain himself. Personally, I believe that McCain was too much of a nice guy to win this election.

John McCain still adheres to the “old school” of Senate behavior: the one where personal honor is important, and personal attacks are beneath you. Where respect is shown to your opponent, no matter who your opponent is or how radical his views. I believe that he would rather lose an election than violate those principles of behavior he believes in…and I believe that, given what he’s been through in his life, he doesn’t view a lost election as the worst thing that could happen to him.

The Democrats, on the other hand, care about power, and don’t care what they have to do to achieve and retain it. They will maintain that black is white and up is down, if that’s what it takes to get back in power. They would rather lose in Iraq and see that country in chaos than see George W. Bush get credit for anything. We’ve seen that pattern of behavior time and time again over the last few years from Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, John Murtha, Ted Kennedy, and the other usual suspects.

I happen to agree with Bill O’Reilly when he said that McCain should have said, “Look, I’m going to appoint Rudy Giuliani as Attorney General, and Mitt Romney as Treasury Secretary, if they’ll accept the positions, and I’m going to go after every CEO and every government official that was responsible for this economic chaos. If you elect me, I will go after the people that caused this, and I will hold them accountable for their actions.” Had he done that, he probably would have won. Had he gone after Obama’s judgment for his relationships with Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayres, Tony Rezko, and others, much earlier on in the campaign, it could have made a difference.

There are so many things that McCain could have done, but didn’t do, that could have made the difference in the election. It’s nearly inexplicable that he didn’t do any of them. I’m sure that there will be many post-mortem books written about where McCain went wrong. Perhaps there will be some lessons learned that will make a difference in 2012. But this time around, the nice guy is going to finish – well, not last…that honor will go to one of the fringe candidates that our country still allows to be on the ballot – but not first either, and that the only place that counts.

Thanks for listening.