McCain in 2012?

Apparently the idea of running for president again is not in McCain's four-year plan. At least not according to this video where he laughs hysterically at the very idea:


I started to wonder, though, what if he did run in 2012? Since losing... well, since a few days before losing when he appeared on Saturday Night Live making fun of himself, McCain has somehow become so much more likable. He made us laugh on SNL, he gave a gracious concession speech, and he has gone out of his way to support Obama in his soon-to-be presidency. Hasn't he already started winning over America?

According to the article, "The Real McCain" in The Huffington Post, no he hasn't. As I read this article that tears down every single endearing thing McCain has done since the election, it made me think of the way we have criticized the conservative media for trying to rile people up, and I think that Robert J. Elisberg, the author of this article, did very much the same thing but from a liberal standpoint. In fact, while I agreed with some of Elisberg's points, I found his article a little off-putting in the same way I find some of the things I see on FOX News off-putting.

Just thought I'd try to be fair....

Post-Election Interviews

One of the ways in which the media is holding on to the last threads of the election frenzy is by scoring the first post-election interviews from the candidates. John McCain chose to give his first post-election interview to Jay Leno from NBC. Check out some highlights here:


Sarah Palin gave her first interview to Greta Van Susteren from FOX News. To read some of the highlights, click HERE.

As for our president-elect, Barack Obama, the press is all over him and his family, covering topics from his meeting with George and Laura Bush, to what breed of dog he will choose to take to the White House and why.

My guess is that as we move farther and farther away from the election, the media will start covering increasingly ridiculous stories just to keep up the hype. Case in point: BBC News - Choosing the First Puppy.

Barack Obama - World Leader

It has been interesting in these past couple days to read about the international response to Obama's election win. The overall response has been extremely positive, with newspaper headlines across the world declaring Barack Obama the bringer of peace and prosperity to the globe. According to The Boston Globe's article "Much of the world exults in Obama", "...the reaction of US friends and foes alike suggests that Obama will receive a level of international good will not seen by a US president since John F. Kennedy."

Also in that same article was a quote from Douglas Brinkley, a history professor at Rice University, who said "No president of a country as powerful as the United States has ever been seen as such a unifying figure.... Most of the world sees Barack Obama as their leader. . . . It's a gigantic burden on his shoulders."

These are some pretty enormous responsibilities being put on Obama! Can you imagine if the entire world was expecting you to lead them? I hate to be a downer, but if everyone has expectations this high, isn't that likely to lead to unwarranted disappointment? It's like the opposite of what happened with Sarah Palin in the vice presidential debate. She made it through without completely humiliating herself, so we were all impressed.

I am confident that Obama will be a great president, but with the entire world putting him up an an enormous pedestal, I have to admit that I'm a little worried. We're involved in two wars and the worst economic crisis most of us have ever seen... and we're all expecting a miracle on January 20th.

Now that the election is over....

Now that the election is over, McCain insiders can start leaking details about what went wrong, specifically with Sarah Palin. Check out this video from Fox News:


Apparently, even McCain campaigners felt that the questions asked by Katie Couric were fair, it was Sarah Palin's lack of knowledge that proved her inexperience, not unfair "gotcha" journalism. I think it will be interesting to hear more of this story now that insiders don't have to continue keeping quiet about Palin.