I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what America is going to look like in January if John McCain is sworn in as President. I have to say, it doesn’t look good.

A few months ago I took an old quote from Lyndon Johnson and substituted some contemporary names to convey how I feel about this elections. In many ways, those feelings remain. Here’s the original quote:

“It would have been hard on me to watch Bobby march to ‘Hail to the Chief, but I almost wish he had become president so the country could finally see a flesh-and-blood Kennedy grappling with the daily work of the presidency and all the inevitable disappointments, instead of their storybook image of great heroes who, because they were dead, could make anything anyone wanted happen.”  – Lyndon Johnson

And here are my changes:

“It [will] be hard on me to watch [Obama] march to ‘Hail to the Chief, but I almost wish he [will] become president so the country [can] finally see a flesh-and-blood [liberal] grappling with the daily work of the presidency and all the inevitable disappointments, instead of their storybook image of great heroes who, because they [weren't in office] could make anything anyone wanted happen.”  – PC

While I spoke before about how the public may need a refresher course on liberal policies, another possible issue has been raised. Bloggingheads.tv has a great discussion between Glenn Loury of Brown University and John McWhorter of the Manhattan Institute. Both men are black and they bring up some very good points about what an Obama loss would look like. McWhorter, an Obama supporter, worries that an Obama loss will be seen by blacks as confirmation of American racism. He indicates this might cause a step back in race relations. He also says that white liberals will use this as a way of fanning those flames and strengthening their ties to blacks. It will also feed liberal white guilt and possibly lead to more poor social programs like affirmative action.

In my mind the negatives that come from Obama losing don’t stem from what McCain will do, but rather from how the defeated Obama supporters will act for the next 4 years. When thinking ahead to how ugly that will be, the easiest solution seems to be letting Obama win. But that’s how bullying works and I think we’re better than that.