Why Are You Reading This Junk?

During the primaries and general election cycle of 2008, I was completely enthralled, obsessed, and otherwise with everything going on. I had Obama fever and was incredibly proud of the Democratic party platform. I tuned in daily to Huffington Post, Daily Kos, and all things lefty. I was shocked, dismayed, and outraged at everything the Republicans said and did and enjoyed railing against the Bush failures like my liberal counterparts.

Now that the elections have ended and Obama is President, my attitude has changed.

One thing that has remained is that I am far more informed than I used to be and keep up with the news consistently. What has changed is that I am no longer intensely political.

I don't want more Democrats in Congress or "better Democrats," a term used frequently at Daily Kos to describe Democrats with values and voting records that they deem progressive. I want Senators and House members who serve their constituents, get things done, debate and vote intelligently, and don't do too many stupid things for stupid reasons. I'm not limiting these wishes to Democrats; I want the same for Republicans.

I sympathize with the causes of the Daily Kos readership far more than I do with the RedStaters. However, both far-wings of their parties (left-wing and right-wing) share the same tendencies to shriek and be shrill when things are not going perfectly their way. Political candidates must pass their ideological purity tests or else all bets are off.

I don't begrudge political activism in general, including efforts by progressives to unseat Blue Dog Democrats. However, I hope they don't yell at the Republican Party for not being a "big tent" party when they don't always tolerate diversity of opinion in their own party very well either.

I donated to and campaigned for Obama during the general election because I believed he was an honest guy who genuinely wanted to serve the American people and take the country into a new direction that was solutions-oriented and driven towards peace and prosperity for our country. My gut said he was who he said he was and that he would do what he promised. So far, I haven't been proven wrong.

I won't always agree with him, but I'm glad that we have the smartest guy room flanked by all of the other smartest people in the room and subject matter experts in their respective fields helping us get out of this mess.

I believe that the electorate has proven to be more engaged and informed than ever before (or at least in a long time). There will always be those who scream that Obama is a socialist or that he's in the pockets of Wall Street. However, the larger middle, the more engaged and informed larger middle, will hopefully start electing better public officials for both parties. Rampant passive consumerism can't last forever when so many people are hurting and awakened to the realities of the present.

Instead of offering up bloggers who only post about hypocritical words and deeds of Republicans, I recommend my two favorite blogs that offer insightful, intelligent, and thoughtful political analysis:

• The Field - Al Giordano Reports the United States
• Booman Tribune - A Progressive Community

Here's to using our heads and analyzing issues and candidates when we vote!

One of these days, I hope President-Elect Obama can start off a weekly address with "Good morning, this week has brought us great news of prosperity for all Americans" or at least "good news of increasing prosperity amongst all Americans."  Realistically, it will be "Good morning, this week has brought us the news of increasing layoffs/home foreclosures/credit markets freezing/dogs getting kicked/other bad things happening."

With all the turmoil that the U.S. economy is facing, I'm glad Obama is concentrating on the issues that matter to Americans and is detailing what he plans on doing to help.  His nominee for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Shaun Donovan, seems like a fine one based on the information given about him.

Meanwhile, there are other folks who don't care to focus on the critical issues and make as much noise as possible about Blago-gate....

In an interview with Sen. John McCain by George Stephanopoulos on today's episode of ABC's This Week, Stephanopoulos brought up the fact that Republican National Committee Chair Mike Duncan has released a series of daily statements about the Gov. Rod Blagojevich situation and the involvement of Obama's team.  The quote from one of the statements used on This Week was "Obama's promise of transparency to the American people is now being tested."

On one hand, that quote is absolutely true.  On the other hand, Blago-gate is an excellent opportunity for certain members of the Republican party to create a scandal around Obama and yammer on just to hear their own voices.  It's a nice continuation of the guilt-by-association game they played during the course of the campaign.

My vision of the future for the Republican party is that of a strong opposition party that keeps the Democrats in check when they overreach.  No matter how good the Democratic party platform was over the course of the campaign, and no matter how much of a liberal I can be, unfettered monopolistic control of government by one party is not a good idea no matter who the party is.

I hope the Democrats can use their majority in Congress to pass progressive legislation that puts people back to work, transitions us to a new energy economy, reforms healthcare, etc.  I hope the Republicans can come together around a platform that's based around helping the American people and not partisan politics and become the voice of reason when the Democrats make a boneheaded move.