In the euphoria over the Obama victory I have already encountered the bitter reaction of many Republicans. I live in highly Republican part of Virginia and am elated that the state has swung our way. I snicker at the thought, "Where's your Red State now - huh?" Of course this election has proved to be highly emasculating for Republicans in this once solidly red state.
There is a certain seething among many goopers in this area. I've seen three outright examples of Republicans taking out their anger on their children. Sure, children may act up but the reactions I've seen have been so explosive that it can only be attributed to their anger at the election.
One young person I know is the only progressive in a very conservative family. We were emailing back and forth with joy during the returns but Wednesday morning I received this:
I do not think I can live with my father these four years. He refuses to refer to our president elect by his name or title, only "B.O." He went as far as to curse, extensively, the "c**k s*****s" in Northern VA who got Obama the VA votes.
I can understand anger, but his childish enraged response worries me. How many Americans will hold this grudge against Obama?
I was awake until well after 1 am watching the TV and I was relieved. I am afraid that the people in this country who refuse to respect OBama will somehow create a larger disunity that would devestate this country.
This violent reaction is tragic but not uncommon. I voted in Florida(!) in 2000. You think I wasn't livid? But I got over it. Same in 2004. And my response is to look at the bigger picture. The axiom is true: calm heads will prevail. The anger of most people will subside. No doubt, this was a stinging defeat for the Republicans and we can expect sour grapes galore. A sense of entitlement among Republicans runs high and their sense of false pride makes political defeat an extremely bitter pill to swallow. Ironically, it is the very conservatives who lament so-called liberal bias in the media who cry the loudest when things don't go exclusively their way. These people have been mainlining right wing bias through Fox "News" for so long that anything but a Rove-style victory is seen as a catastrophe. So much for fair and balanced. If you truly want the media to be unbiased then you have to accept when your own side comes up short now and then. But we know better. These consevatives are all talk. For all of this liberal bias in the media nonsense their actions say, "my way or the highway"
My advice to the writer of the email was to stay above it all and not to engage. I hold my head high and anticipate and work toward the element of change that is inherent in this landslide. Hopefully, when these people see the good work, the good changes this administration can bring then they will get in line if only to work together as Americans. If not, then they have much deeper issues than their party merely losing an election. There is already a sense from Republicans of "there goes the neighborhood." I've even encountered an assertion that the country has gone into an immediate tailspin. My reaction: What about the last eight years? There was even one six year old child I met who said, "I can't believe Obama was elected. My dad said he's gonna take away Christmas." Horrible.
Let the conservatives wallow in it for a while, they are mourning a loss like that of losing a pet. There is pain that cannot be ignored and will manifest itself in strange ways but must nevertheless run its course. If your pet is run over you may be angry at the driver even though you knew your pet tended to wander into the street. In this case its as if the Republicans brutually killed their own pet and yet are angry at the world because their pet is dead. THEY ran this country into a ditch, THEY are the ones who trashed America's good name. Now THEY are reaping the consequences.
Now we get to watch the bloodbath within the GOP itself over the direction of their party. (I love hearing the term "circular firing squad") For example, I wasn't listening to NPR for two minutes Wednesday morning before I heard a Republican senator throw Sarah Palin under the bus.
In their bitter mourning let them take their anger out on each other.