It’s over.
President Obama has been re-elected. And yet… if you go to your window and look outside, you may be stunned to find that despite the dire predictions of Rep. Paul Ryan and conservative radio talk show hosts, Western civilization (not to mention the so-called Judeo-Christian values the country was allegedly founded upon) has survived. The sky did not fall, the sun did not go dark and yes, Virginia, the Republic stands strong today.
Is it just me, or is there a palpable sense of relief across the land this morning? Perhaps not only that the president has won four more years in office, but rather because today marks the end of the radical rhetoric, the dumbed-down television ads, and the outright lies we’ve heard for going on two years.
It turns out the party claiming the moral high ground has shown itself to be little more than expedient opportunists willing do drop the “less government” meme whenever it suits them, yet unwilling to compromise or cede even an inch on issues ranging from the vital to the trivial. That is not governing. That is grandstanding. And in terms of the last two elections, that is losing.
So when Paul Ryan tells us our values are threatened by a president who is the personification of American exceptionalism, the people – not the PACs – reject it out of hand. As a nation, we were set up to disagree and debate and fight it out. But when the fight is done and the final score is in the books, Americans don’t mope or whine or blame the refs. We shake hands, tip our hats to the victor, and get down to work. At least that’s what the two parties used to do.
Beginning today, we are about to find out if the GOP plans to live by their bromides and bumper stickers or if they plan to continue their assault on those with whom they disagree in order to prove a point at the expense of progress. For if it’s Judeo-Christian values they claim to live by, this may be a good time to remind them of Matthew 16:3 when Jesus said, “O ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky; but can ye not discern the signs of the times?”
Todd Goodman