While I'm Thinking About It

And now, the Monday morning quarterbacking

At this point, several hours past the fact, the question still hangs in the air: "Who's to blame for McCain's loss?"

Was it the allegedly mainstream media, so obviously in the tank for Obama from the start? It certainly didn't help, but Bush was able to overcome that in 2004 and win with the first majority of the popular vote since his father in 1998. Now, if McCain was counting on the same sort of favorable coverage he got in the primaries . . . .

Was it Bush? The man was (and still is, for that matter) far from perfect, and made his share of mistakes in the Oval Office, and that couldn't have helped. Still, it is a rare thing anymore when the same party gets to hold the presidency for three consecutive terms, so that's not it entirely, either.

Choosing Palin? Nah. She proved herself smart, and funny, and able to poke fun at herself. She was no more a liability than Cheney (the most evil man who ever lived, according to the initial reactions) or Dan Quayle (an empty-headed waste of oxygen, from the same sorts of people). I don't actually think we've seen the last of her.

No, I'm actually putting a big chunk of it right at the feet of right wing talk radio. They were so busy trying to give people reasons to vote against Obama, they never bothered to give anyone a reason to vote for McCain. That was why I turned it all off last week; it was too negative. Hannity was the worst, as I don't think a single hour of his program went by without his playing of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright soundbites. And, tuning in today, those clips are now part of his opening theme montage. So, I'm done with him, which is a shame because I tend to like his interviews.

I'll have one more political-type post up tomorrow, and that'll be the end of it for a good, long while. See, while I may have opposed Obama, he's now my president and that means he gets a fair chance to prove himself up to the task.