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Election Aftermath


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Glad this damn election is over. For me, the award for enduring the long tedious campaign is not that Obama won but that all the conservative right-wing Republican wackos and religious zealots have been defeated. Now, it's back to square one, unmindful that the economy will continue to do what it does, independent of the manipulations of human input. At least America lived up to its reputation for reuniting after a contentious election, Donald Trump aside.

I knew FaceBook would be on fire when Obama was declared the winner, and reading all of the comments brought something home to me. Everyone was praising the lord, thanking Jesus, describing themselves as jumping up and down, the kind of jubulance associated with multi- million dollar lottery winners. One poster declared that this was the happiest day of his life. All of this confirmed why I took such a dim view of the proceedings that pitted these 2 candidates against each other.

For some reason I couldn’t muster any enthusiasm for purple-lipped Obama and his moon-faced wife, yet at the same time I found the robotic Romney and his mannikin mate obnoxious. Meoooow. :P

But what overrode my personal prejudices had more to do with the people who supported Mitt and Barack. For Romney, it was the white, thinly disguised bigots whining for a return to the past, and the anti-women pro-lifers, and the narrow-minded bible-thumping Evangelicals, and the fascistic super patriots, and the black Uncle Toms. These were who totally turned me off.

For Obama, I was irritated by the hard core, blindly loyal hero worshippers with their herd mentality, - black people looking for Obama to fulfill whatever was missing in their lives, satisfying their need for a savior to right past wrongs as they cast a jaundiced eye at any Black who didn’t get with the program. An anathema for a contrarian like me.

However, I guess this is what choosing a leader is all about. Supporting the candidate with whom you can identify. The only problem is that presidential candidates seldom fulfill their promises. Their empty rhetoric is just an exercise in platitudes and sound bites. And they end up being at the mercy of Congress and corporate America and the military.

Whatever. Barak Obama has won and America will now return to business as usual as he tries to make his audacity of hope a reality while treading a slippery slope that requires the cooperation of a non partisan senate. Have you got his back, God??

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Well said Cynique. I KNOW I'm in a small minority with my less than hyperbolic support for Obama. So it is good to read when someone else shares my sentiments.

Someone wrote the happiest day of his life. My God! I can see Barack saying that. But even Barack, I suspect would give a more conventional answer like when I married Michelle or the birth of his children.

Needless to say I hope things improve, but given that things are pretty much the same as they were before the election, I'm not very optimistic... at least not so optimistic that yesterday would crack the top 1,000 happiest days of my life.

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Here is another Brother I recently discovered during a recent trip to Tampa. He was covered in the free newspaper (right before the Asian massage parlors), sad. Deggans had a book published earlier in the year called

What can be learned from media coverage of 2012 election

By Times TV/Media Critic

In Print: Monday, November 5, 2012

"It certainly brings about a feeling of exhaustion," said Dylan Byers, who covers media for POLITICO, noting the Internet-fueled 24/7 news cycle has increased the flow of stories and pushed journalists hard this election season. "Because of how fast the media moves now, there's greater demand for news coverage than there are stories. People are going to look back, and perhaps wish they had spent more time on bigger pieces with greater impact." Read the whole article

Excerpts from the article are below. (My commentary in parentheses):

1 - Social media smartens up and dumbs down the coverage.

"Do I think 'binders full of women' was the most substantive thing said during the debate? No, obviously not," Byers added. "Is it worthwhile to have a conversation about equality in the workplace? Absolutely." (I would say mostly dumbs down, mis-information spreads quickly, mostly a vast sea of uninformed opinions)

2 - The political press has a tough time putting issues on the national news agenda if neither candidate wants to talk about them.

Critics pointed out that the presidential campaigns and even the televised debates missed addressing a host of important issues, from the rise of poverty rates during the recession to questions on climate change, pollution and the environment. (Journalists,I 'm learning don;t ask hard question for fear of losing access, and don't get deep for fear of losing an audience)

3 - News consumers don't just want fact-checking, they want truth-checking.

Facts can be easier to verify. But judging what a collection of facts means often requires making a judgment call... (This is why people are so confused. the truth seeking part of the journalist's job seems to have taken a back seat to whatever drives ratings)

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Cynical Cynique -

How I've missed your reflections on life in general. I find it so hilarious that you've called Obama purple-lipped since he first came on the scene. If you would only upgrade your ancient assed black and white TV you'd know that his lips are quite normal :rolleyes:

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Well, hello, Mzuri. I have color TV and Obama's lips are not as purple as they used to be since he gave up smoking; they are lilac now. Michelle's face continues to suck her in. But maybe this is why Obama won. Jesus loves imperfection. You know all about that, don't you? :lol:

Good article, Troy. Right on point.

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