Barack Obama, Ignore The Pundits!

So I was watching MSNBC this morning (Morning Joe) and wanted to pull my hair out. All the panel participants-- Democrat, Republican, whatever the fuck Harold Ford is at this point-- were pushing the same meme that the pundits have been creating for days now... that if Barack Obama wins and actually governs as the liberal Democrat that he campaigned as, America will be super mad and hate him forever.

It's that liberal media bias we hear so much about. If George W. Bush wins by the slimmest of margins, he has a 'mandate' for conservative governing. If Barack Obama manages to win tonight by the sizeable margin indicated by the more recent polls, he has a mandate for... conservative governing? Apparently, according to this fucking braintrust, what America wants by electing Obama and giving Democrats an even larger congressional majority is bland, unambitious, center-right government.

Now, I know what you are thinking... if that were actually true, then a) McCain would be winning, b) Hillary would've won the primary, c) all the scare tactics used against Obama would've been more effective, and/or d) Democratic victory would be limited, not all-around like we are seeing. But you are a foolish moonbat who lacks the insight into the American psyche possessed by such everymen like Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan. If Obama really wants to sink his (now still hypothethical) presidency ASAP, the best thing he could do is take their advice and govern like the Democrat-lites he defeated in the primary.

As Glenn Greenwald writes on Salon, "It's true, as Obama has been saying the last several days, that power doesn't concede easily, and it's going to be just as true -- at least -- as the Beltway elements in the Democratic Party move aggressively to protect their prerogatives and ensure that there's very little 'change'."

Furthermore, the last time I checked, the most popular U.S. presidents weren't the losers who played it safe and tried not to offend the delicate sensibilities of pundits by shaking things up. FDR on the left, Reagan on the right... our most memorable Presidents made making radical changes a key part of their time in office. People want things shaken up (and are also a lot more progressive than it is often noted). That is the overarching message of this election.

The pressure will be on Obama from tomorrow onward from the powers that be to promise to water down everything he stands for and fought for during this long campaign. I have to hope he is smart enough to ignore them and do his own thing, as he has been this whole time. But it will also be up to us to hold his feet to the fire over the next few years to make sure he does. Be prepared... victory may come tonight, but the stupidity will definitely start tomorrow.