For all the talk here of "permanent Democratic majority" and the "GOP civil war", you'd think that Republicans are done for and the Democrats are the reigning party for at least a generation and a new dawn has come to America. Please, just stop it.
According to the Daily Kos Electoral Scoreboard as of the time of my writing this, over 57 million people voted for McCain. Democrats won by less than 8 million votes. With arguably one of the strongest Democratic candidates in the last 40 years against a Republican candidate who was unpopular with his own party and a Republican VP pick that helped revive that base at the same time as she drove away the middle, Obama won by just a bit over 5%.
McCain had just about everything going against him... unpopularity with his own party, his VP pick energized the base and annoyed everyone else, the economy neared collapse at the same time as he was continuing to say "the fundamentals of our economy are strong", his campaign staff was riddled with lobbyists killing his ability to campaign on his own history of campaign finance reform, and that's not even counting the last 8 years of Bush. Obama meanwhile was fresh, calm, informed, charismatic, intelligent, and even McCain himself commented on how eloquent he was.
And yet with all this going for him, he still didn't get as many electoral votes as Bill Clinton did in either of his elections. While we're celebrating, three more states added gay marriage bans to their state constitutions bringing the total to 30! Michelle Bachman still won her election despite her return to McCarthyism. Saxby Chambliss is heading into a run-off against Martin with a 3 point lead in a state that went red. Convicted felon Ted Stevens actually looks to win his seat in Alaska!
If there was one lesson Obama consistently tried to teach us, it's that no matter what the polls say, play as if you're behind by 10 points. And now a week after the election we're acting as if this is the new golden era and the Republicans are down for the count. We cannot be complacent. We cannot relent. And we damn well can't sit on our laurels when Obama hasn't even had the chance to take the oath of office yet.
But while we continue the fight, remember the other lesson Obama tried to teach us... the Republicans are people too. Their policy may be flawed but that doesn't mean that we should treat Republican people as unpatriotic or as if they love America any less than we do. Obama had many chances to take shots at McCain personally and he always stepped away from them and instead focused on policy. If we claim to be his supporters, we have to live up to that same expectation.
Personally, I think one of the best places to start is fiscal policy. It's obvious that conservative fiscal policy has failed but do you understand why? Can you explain it simply and coherently to friends, family, and co-workers? If we can carry the argument on the failure of conservative fiscal policy, the Republican platform dwindles to little more than social conservativism.
It is my hope that this will force the Republican party to rethink and redefine itself. Without a coherent and sensible Republican party, we lose the ability to have a political dialogue in this country and are left with a monologue and no new ideas... something that should send shivers down the spine of any progressive.
This fight isn't over... and Tuesday gave us 57 million reasons why.