I speculated below on how I thought the left would behave if Obama lost. It only seems fair to open up the same line of inquiry about the right in the event of a McCain loss.
I don't think the reaction will be nearly as traumatic. McCain is not a good candidate, and he inspires none of the intensity among conservatives that Obama does among liberals. It will be truly shocking if Obama loses, but if McCain does, no conservative can say he didn't see it coming.
I expect there to be a fairly large segment of the right that will go into hysterical opposition, staying on a perpetual bender of outrage, stoked by many in talk radio. Idiots and cretins like this guy will be in clover.
But they won't be everybody on the right. As for me, I will greet an Obama victory with an anxious shrug, regarding it as a just result, given how badly Republicans have governed, but also foreseeing an era of liberal government that will do serious damage to the causes I most care about. Can't be helped at this point, though. The thing I intend to do is to focus more intensely on localism -- on doing things I can do to provide for my family and my little platoon here in Dallas, to build us up and get ready for the hard times that we'll all be going through, and would be going through no matter who was in power in Washington. And I hope to be part of a constructive, creative group of conservative writers and thinkers who will help create a New Right. We should oppose Obama and the Democrats when they're wrong, but my primary focus will be on rebuilding the conservative movement from within, and strengthening conservative institutions and customs against the drift of the times and the culture.
In other words, I won't regard an Obama victory as a disaster, though perhaps it will be. I will see it as a judgment that we conservatives brought on ourselves, and an opportunity to reform ourselves through creative thinking and action. What I don't want any part of is the hysterical spite that's going to find a fruitful niche on the right, just as it did in some precincts of the left during the Bush years. That crap feeds on itself, and does nobody any good.
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Hey Will,
Please accept my humble apologizes. Nothing is a greater breach of etiquette than accusing a fellow liberal of being a conservative ;-). I hope you can forgive me. From your original critique it was not entirely clear from which direction your comment came. It will be nice to vote on the winning side for a change.
Scott,
no need to apologize, bro.
Interesting, btw, that we meet here at the Crunchy Con.
I'm actually going to vote for my Republican Congressman (Chris Shays, CT 4th) because I think the loyal opposition needs more people like Chris Shays (and Rod Dreher, should he ever be a candidate for public office). But I'm so looking forward to seeing the words "president-elect Barack Obama" in the paper on 11/5.
I’m not going to lie to you: I think we’re a deeply divided country. As long as people, with no sense of irony, write absolute dogma such as, “The Democrats always do this,” or “The Republicans only say that,” we’re in a lot of trouble. Thanks Crunchy Con, for the only right-leaning viewpoint that hasn't involved hate in the last 9 months. I'm almost proud to be an American. There's no irony intended there.
If elected, Obama will destoy this country, force christian women to have abortions, and require eveyone to read the koran.
Pres Bush needs to step in and have Obama placed under arrest- he should then appoint McCain/Palin as winners, although I wish Palin were the one runing for president.
If elected, Obama will strengthen our nation's schools so that the children of Ted Pratt, if he has any, will know how to spell words like "destroy," "everyone," and "running," words that the average 5th grader knows how to spell.
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