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The Drums of 2012 Start Beating Already

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With the Republicans still trying to figure out how to move forward, conservative columnist Robert Novak has suggested that the 2012 Presidential election may be the perfect time for former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich to return to national politics. From the article:

One Republican critic of Gingrich concedes that he has an “unlimited” energy flow and a constant stream of ideas, an important commodity in a party that appears to have run short of ideas during the Bush years. But there is widespread concern about what is described in the party as Gingrich’s deep “character flaws” that would be difficult to overcome in a presidential campaign. Nobody in Republican ranks, however, matches Gingrich’s dynamism.

This may be true, but I have to wonder how Gingrich fits into today’s political world. As detailed in this blog before, Gingrich has spent a good deal of time building his think tank around the idea of bipartisan support for certain political issues. And as all students of political history know, then-Speaker Gingrich brought a Republican majority back to Congress in 1994 with his Contract with America plan. I think this is what the Republicans are looking for in 2012, but they need more than a new Contract with America.

The reason that Gingrich and his team swept into office in 1994 was because a majority of Americans never really wanted President Bill Clinton to be elected in the 1992 election and thus dissatisfaction with his first two years as Commander-in-Chief was as easy campaign rallying cry. That sentiment does not exist right now with President-elect Obama and, frankly, I’m not sure that he’s going to lose momentum as quickly as President Clinton did in the early 1990’s.

So while certain conservatives may think that Gingrich is the choice for 2012 (and, by the way, I think that he’d make a fine President), the Republicans need to remember the circumstances that brought Gingrich and the Republicans to power in 1994. Plus they have to consider that Sarah Palin has widespread support among Republicans and conservatives as well as in the Midwest states. Yes, the ultra liberal northeast and California electorates absolutely hate Palin (though none of them can offer significant reasons for that hate), but the rest of America seems to be on her side. She’ll be a tough contender in 2012 if she decides to run.

Then you have guys like Rudy, Huckabee, Romney, and Jindal who can all make waves in 2012. Until then, though, be prepare to read more speculative articles like Mr. Novak’s – I think it’s going to be fun!

The Best 2008 Election Story Yet

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FOXNews.com ran a story a little bit earlier that has got to be the best story from the 2008 election so far. Here is the article reposted in its entirety:

GOODRIDGE, Minn. — A coin toss has determined the winner of the mayor’s race in the tiny northwestern Minnesota town of Goodridge.

Incumbent Bob Homme and former Mayor Dave Brown each got 22 votes. Instead of finding the ballots and recounting the 44 votes, they agreed to decide the winner with a coin toss.

It already was a strange race in Goodridge – population 98 – with no one filing to run for mayor. Brown and Homme were both write-ins.

To break the tie, each tossed his own coin. If it was even, meaning two heads or two tails, Homme would win the two-year term. If it was odd, meaning a head and a tail, Brown would win.

It was a head and a tail. Brown won.

That’s good old-fashioned small town politics, baby! Can’t figure out what to do with a tie? Screw it, flip a coin! I love it…

Entering a Cell Phone-Free World

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Who doesn’t have a cell phone these days? It seems that virtually everyone has a cell phone these days from the very young to the very old and everyone in between. In fact, many of the younger people with cell phones (younger = 35 years old and below) do not just have cell phones, they may have a cell phone addiction.

Do you know someone who absolutely MUST have his or her cell phone on their person at all times? Do they get phone calls on the cell phone and then run into a corner to talk to whoever is on the other line about a gigantic secret (likely what to eat for dinner that night)? Think of who this person is in your life – the person who is constantly text messaging or reading their e-mail on their phone. Now think about whether or not that person could survive without their cell phone.

Probably not, huh? Come to think of it – could YOU survive without your cell phone? The New York Times ran an article today talking about how the writer of the article voluntarily gave up her cell phone! From the article:

The first inkling that I’d stepped over the line was when my husband called Verizon to cancel my account and the service representative reacted as if we were trying to pull a fast one. My husband’s account of the call:

Rep: “Is there a problem?”

“No,” my husband said.

Rep: “How can I change your mind?”

“She just doesn’t want her cellphone anymore,” he said, adding, “I feel like I’m talking to a counselor at a suicide prevention hot line.”

The rep laughed nervously, as if hearing a rumor of the Apocalypse. “She’s really just going to switch to an iPhone, right?”

The article is pretty interesting and it got me thinking about a few things like whether or not I need a cell phone at all and, if so, then what services I need on the phone. I guess I do need a cell phone at this point in my life, but I could probably pare down the service somewhat (which is already down at the lowest level, I think). Take a read of the article, I think you’ll enjoy it!

Voter Turnout Lower in 2008 Than 2004?

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There are many reasons why Senator Barack Obama became President-Elect Barack Obama, but was one of those reasons a higher voter turnout? Don’t count on it. Looking at Wikipedia’s page for the 2004 Presidential election we can see that the Bush vs. Kerry election saw some 121 million (121,069,054 to be exact) people turn out to vote. Looking at CNN.com’s coverage of the 2008 election we can count some 120 million (120,366,599 to be exact) people turning out to vote for the Obama vs. McCain contest.

Not only is that not an increased voter turnout, but it’s lower than the last election! Sure, there may be some absentee ballots that need to be counted and after a recount here and there the total number of voters in 2008 might go up a few thousand, but even if the total number of votes cast should rise some astronomical number to 125 million, that’s still NOT the bigger turnout that all of the pundits (and the politicians) expected for this election cycle.

This tells us a few things. First, there was NOT some large groundswell of voter motivation to go out and vote in the most historic election of our time. Second, if the electorate remained essentially the same, then the inherent voter apathy in America was not changed in this election (which is a damn shame). Third, those who voted in 2004 and then voted again in 2008 must have been more likely to be open to the idea of voting for a different party. Remember, McCain only lost by about 7 points (or about 8 million votes).

While that is a significant number of voters, let’s hope that history remembers this election in a realistic view. Yes, 2008 was an historic election for any number of reasons – but not for bringing out more voters to the polls or energizing the electorate.

Has America Stepped into a Post-Racial Society?

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YES! I was sitting at work today listening to CNN on Sirius XM and one of the commentators made the suggestion that while race was a factor in the Presidential election, it was not a limiting factor. In other words, while the old time news media and the old time race-baiters tried to use race in a fear-mongering context, there were citizens who voted for Senator Barack Obama simply because he is a black man! In a country where a few decades ago black children were sent to separate schools from white children and in a country where certain “civil rights leaders” are constantly trying to divide and conquer, this is a remarkable tribute to the nobility of today’s electorate!

Let me rephrase that last comment. America’s citizens have, by-and-large, moved BEYOND living in a society where the color of one’s skin decides whether or not they can advance in society. Finally – FINALLY – we might be in a post-racial society where a man or woman is judged by the content of their character and not their race. For my liberal-minded friends out there – this is what Martin Luther King, Jr’s dream was all about! And for my conservative-minded friends out there – imagine a world where affirmative action is taken off of the bargaining table due to its inherent racism and anti-lower-to-middle-class white leanings.

I distinctly remember bringing this issue up about 4 years ago in Graduate School and using Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson as my examples. Here are guys who made their entire careers off of the black vs. white conflict – real (Abner Louima) or imagined (the Duke case). Let’s hope to God that these two men are put out of business because America is now in a post-racial society.

With Republicans voting for Obama, whites voting for Obama, a woman earning 47% of the national vote for Vice-President, a black man winning the Presidency…it appears that it is finally time for us to move away from the race and gender-based issues of the 1900’s and get involved in some of the major issues of OUR time. The environment, sustainable living, quality education, American-style capitalism in a global market, advancing math and science in America, etc, etc. These are the types of changes that America has wanted not just for 8 years, but for decades.

We don’t want to rehash the same, tired arguments about the color of our skin any more. Enough is enough. In fact, a large number of the 2008 electorate (myself included) have existed on this planet for almost three decades while not ever caring about the race of our friends and colleagues. It’s nice to see that America has finally caught up!

Now how long until the old-fashioned news media concocts some story about how America is as racist as ever?!?