Post-Election Punditry

There are a great many lessons learned from the election.

Democrats have proved, yet again, that if they lie a sufficient number of times about their opponents real policies the public will believe it. McCain didn't fight back enough against the distortions coming from Obama.

Another mistake was that he didn't attack Obama enough. The moment the economy became an issue, McCain should have hammered Democrats for their enabling the mess- and attacked Obama for taking so much money from them and for hiring Jim Johnson and Franklin Raines. He instead tried to act like a leader- but he blew that too with the bipartisanship talk. He should have scuttled the deal, telling the American people that if the bailout really was that urgent then it wouldn't have been filled with pork.

One other point I want to make is about the role of the media. It's undeniable that they were in the tank for Obama, practically acting like the PR wing of his campaign. The problem for conservatives is that they succeeded. Their bias cloaked Obama's past and helped to dictate the narrative of the race. The LA Times suppressed video evidence which would likely have damaged Obama. This is a major issue that the American people need to be made aware of.

Now that they've done their part and seen the effects, the problem for Republicans is that they will do it again. The media have abdicated their responsibility to truth in favour of partisan electioneering. Any future Republican candidate needs to have a huge war-chest to spend on advertising to get out the issues that suit him, to counter Democrat lies about his or her positions, and finally to attack, attack, attack.

Perhaps the last lesson is that Obama might have hammered a stake through the heart of public financing.