I've got something to say

Recently my friend Gail posted a great blog in which she questioned whether Conservatism was dying (read here http://impoliteconversationwithgail.blogspot.com).

After reading it I thought I agreed with her on about 85% of her topic...but after re-reading it I'm dropping my number down to about 50%. While I do feel that the Conservative movement suffered a great blow during this last election. (Not so much because they lost out to Obama, but more because John McCain was their candidate, and as much as he tried, he never really swayed the hardcore Conservatives to believe in him).

Conservatives are not dying...they're just on a break (and no, I don't mean a "time out.") They have to regroup and decide where they want to go, what they want to do and how they wish to say it. They have an agenda and a system of core beliefs...they just didn't get it out there well enough this time... But elections cycles are just that...cyclical. We'll have 8 good years or 8 bad years, followed by 4 or 8 bad years and so on. These things always seem to work themselves out.

Gail goes on to say that Rush Limbaugh was out of line in spending his showtime on Inauguration Day going after Obama. He may have been over-the-top, but I feel he was well within his rights to espouse whatever he was feeling at that time...after all, it is his show and those who live or die with Rush were probably right there in the trenches with him.

Do I think he could have pulled back a bit? Yes... I too feel that the process of transferring power from one President to the next is a solemn spectacle and should be viewed with a certain reverence. (Although I think swipes at Aretha Franklin's hat were more than deserved...I mean, really...she had SKYLAB on her head!).

Rush Limbaugh's opinions were no more offensive than the parade of onlookers that pelted President Bush's car with eggs or held signs reading "Commander in Thief" or "Not my President" along the parade route for the past two Inauguration days. Seeing those people do that in the name of "free speech" sickened me. While Limbaugh's diatribe was again, "a bit much," I don't think the two even compare.

Limbaugh is being Limbaugh...and if you don't like it, don't listen. Sometimes I find him entertaining and other times he seems (to put it nicely) to be a bit of a pompous jerk. I think he could have set aside or toned down his rhetoric for the day at least, but then again, did the Bush critics ever give #43 that chance?

The historic (and dare I say "Hysteric") events of this week have now been documented for all time. Will we look back on them fondly or will we look back with trepidation? I have "hope" that President Obama really does want to do right for America. I never thought that Bush had anything other than that in mind as well. But of course, we live in a big world and one President, even the leader of the free world, can make mistakes.

I say give Obama a chance...wish the best for him...if he fails, don't we as Americans all fail?
I remember one of my Democrat friends saying after Bush was elected the first time. "I hope he falls on his *butt. That will show all of the idiots that voted for him that they made a stupid choice." I told my friend that what was stupid was her statement... why would you want our Leader to fail? Of course this never changed her mind, but it changed mine... I would never want a President to fail...even if it is one I didn't vote for.

So let Rush vent... let him cool off a bit. He may end up thanking Obama the way that he thanked Clinton when Clinton left office...or, it may challenge him to look at things differently...perhaps even more constructively.

In the meantime I hope that Aretha Franklin buys a different hat in case she's ever called upon to sing in public again.

David