"Getting over it"

Michele at A Small Victory has warns that she "has a lot to say" and its all worth reading. She's seeing and actually receiving some of the venomous anger that is leaking around the statesmanlike calls for unity and healing. As she points out, a campaign that was largely built on hate and belittling of the opposing candidate and his supporters cannot result in much else. Perhaps the only worse that watching this display of bile is the thought of these folks getting a victory. To validate that campaign strategy with a win would have, in my opinion, cursed our political environment for years to come.

"I woke up to a very different world in which people I assumed were rational Democrats are spitting poison nails. I received some nasty emails and comments (since deleted) that were alarming in their venom and hatred. People I never had a harsh word with were suddenly knocking down my virtual door to leaving the equivalent of letter bombs. This did not frighten me so much as make me sad. I can say with all honesty that, had Kerry won this election, I would have done no such thing. But, that's just me."

No Michele, it's not just you. There are plenty of people who have an understanding of "right and wrong" that goes beyond the concept of justice. They believe that are is right behavior and wrong behavior, no matter how strongly you feel about an issue. That you would not send hate mail to Kerry supporters, or anyone, is not because you don't care deeply about the election, its just something you would not do. I would not do something like that either, and, I believe, neither would most Democrats. The loonier elements of "the left" are a minority, I'm convinced, but they were tolerated and encouraged in this campaign. That fatal irresponsibility I lay at the feet of Kerry and his managers. To be "the president for all the people" you need to demonstrate that you will protect the basic rights of all the people, even if that means restraining some of your supporters.

"What did you all believe in this year? Hate? Anger? You ran your own campaign, one filled to the brim with bile and acidic spittle and you wonder why you feel so black today? You were pinning your hopes on the wish that the rest of America harbored the same intense hatred as you and would vote with their clenched fists. Now that you are left without the hoped for victory party as an outlet for your rage, you have to direct it somewhere else. If not at the candidate, then at his voters, right?"

I'd like to see John Kerry and the more responsible Democrats really work to remove this stain from the party. They need to meet with their embittered supporters and tell them that there are decent people in those "red states". People who are not Nazis, are not cavemen, are not racists, who want to do good in the world and differ from blue-staters only in their opinion of the best way to accomplish it. If they even want to be competitive in those states they have to do some attitude repairs.

Michelle also has some thoughts about the next steps for the Republicans.

"It means the same things for us moderate Republicans. Maybe in this time we can produce a candidate who doesn't alienate the social liberal in us, yet speaks to our concerns about defense, security and the war on terror. I am not completely enamored with the Republican Party. There's a lot of work to be done within the ranks. I'd like to see a full stop of the move towards the religious right.

Perhaps there is the perfect candidate out there for both of us, someone just making his or her way up the political chain right now. With any luck, there will be a day when a president is elected who is liked by both sides of the fence, who is respected by everyone."

I was chatting at a party some years ago with the then chairman of the California Republican Party who told me that the only thing he hates more than a Democrat was a moderate Republican. (He knew my political stance and was jerking my chain a bit, but this was not all kidding.) There is an ugly stain of self-righteous disdain, and anger on the right as well. It has not been as prominent in this election as Bush bashing, but it's there and it costs the party votes. Fratricidal arguments over ideological purity have been the death of the Republicans in California, and could have the same effect in an overconfident party after this win. Gloating is not only rude, it's not justified. An incumbent at a time of war should have rolled to easy reelection, especially against a flawed candidate like Kerry. This could well have gone the other way, but for some GOTV heroics in rural counties and the reluctant loyalty of those moderates the neo-cons like to knock. Bush has called for restraint from gloating and will need to continue to restrain the wild enthusiasms of his fanatics to stay on top of the polls and solidify his party.

(Oh, and Michelle, the candidate you are looking for is running California, speaks with a strong accent and is constitutionally barred from the presidency.)