@Didymos Thomas,
Didymos Thomas;31654 wrote:The system worked for us this time.
Hmm, I'm not so sure about that. I mean I'm proud, excited, and optimistic too, and I think the better leader and the better unifier won.
But let's not kid ourselves about the system. The financial playing field was tipped WAY in Obama's favor, and he probably would not have won this election if either he had accepted public financing or if McCain had rejected it. In other words, as is always the case in American national politics, it's money and not ideas that win in the end.
I don't pay attention to McCain's argument that Obama broke a promise by first pledging to accept public financing, then deciding in the end to be self-funded. Whatever, he changed his mind, and it was a purely opportunistic decision.
But we've now got a conundrum in that the Republicans will NEVER again accept public campaign financing, it would be suicide to do so. So McCain's pride and joy, campaign finance reform, is basically 100% dead now.
In other words, all of us who like and who voted for Obama are perfectly happy with the means being justified by the end, but it'll be a different story next time. Either special interest money is going to flood into the next campaign on both sides (making it probably exceed $1 billion) or both sides will be forced to accept public financing -- putting a huge bill on the American taxpayers to fund attack ads and smears and laughably dumb debates.
So let's not wholeheartedly celebrate the system. The part I
would celebrate is the ability of a great leader to rise above prejudices, to resonate with a whole new generation across geographic and ethnic and demographic boundaries, and to win without playing the same divisive political games that are perennially part of politics. But the financial aspect of campaigning is perhaps WORSE now than it ever was, with the only one relief that evil 527s like the "swift boat" people being impoverished by the financial meltdown so they mainly stayed out of it.