On Tap

I have no idea how the day will end. I still believe that Senator Obama will win by a significant margin. Jim and others feel differently. Some think it’s going to be very close. Others hold out hope for a McCain upset.

Whatever the outcome, I hope that partisans on both sides will remember to put their country first. Challenging the legitimacy of an election is a serious thing to do. And with occasional exceptions, charges of fraud are almost always overblown and based on unreliable, anecdotal data.

Over the last few years, too many on both sides have gotten far too obsessed with lawyers, challenges, and allegations of impropriety. Perhaps it’s a result of the hangover from the Florida mess in 2000. But I hope that folks on both sides will act like adults this year and behave with a little grace. If your man loses — and one of them is sure to do so — don’t loosely accuse the other side of stealing it.

Whoever wins, he won’t be the worst President in history. Somehow, the republic will survive. Let’s keep things in perspective tonight as the results come in, and keep a tight rein on our worst instincts.

Cam says: I’m going to quibble just a bit, though I do agree with your larger point. However, you say “whoever wins, he won’t be the worst President in history.” Just as you can’t predict with certainty how tonight’s election will go, I don’t think you can honestly make the statement about best or worst at this point. I also have to disagree with your statement that “somehow, the republic will survive.”

The survival of the republic (and the election of a president) requires not just vigilance, but clarity of vision. It is not inevitable that this country will remain great, or even together. It takes work, but it also requires us to be able to tell the difference between a threat and a distraction. Just because there are distinctions doesn’t mean they don’t both exist. Nothing is inevitable… even our liberty.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 at November 4, 2008 - 4:36 am and is filed under 2008 Presidential Campaign, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.