The 2010 Election and the Negligent Party

According to the statistics for the presidential election of 2008, more first time voters and people who were historically less likely to vote went to the voting booths than ever before. So what was it? Was it the novelty of electing a black president to office? Was it to be able to say you were a part of the history of that? Whatever it was, people succeeded in doing something that many believed would never happen. So, in 2010 when these same people were needed to help make president Obama a successful president, they were nowhere to be found. Had the novelty worn off? Is that what it was? It seems quite apparent that that is the case. And, unfortunately, it made a significant difference in how the elections were decided. And it is these silent people who altered the course of a presidency and need to be addressed accordingly.

You know, it is not enough just to say that we have a black president. It is more important to be able to say that we have a successful black president. And I am very disappointed in all of the people who could not be moved to vote. A significant portion of the population of registered voters and people capable of voting did not bother to go out and make their voices heard on November 2, 2010. Of course, I believe that President Obama's time in office will prove quite successful when all is said and done, but I also believe that democrats missed the boat in allowing what happened to happen. And Obama is the one with the fight on his hands. As stated previously, it is not enough just to be able to say "Okay, we have a black president; I have done my job. We got what we wanted." It is much more important and much more valuable and much more impressive to be able to say that not only do we have a black president, but we have a successful black president. And the chances of that happening are more likely if those of us who truly wanted him as our leader continue to support him. And those of you who could not be bothered to leave your houses and vote in an effort to see to it that your president has the opportunity to continue his road to success, have only yourselves to blame for anything that goes awry from here on out.

What disgusts me more than anything is that all I have heard from the Republican Party is that the people who won did so because Americans were not happy with the way things were going and Americans have spoken. That's not true. When you have a large percentage of people who did not vote, it is not a matter of people being dissatisfied with things as they stand, it is simply a matter of people who were too negligent. And I can almost guarantee that the vast majority of the people who did not vote would have voted democrat, and those people defeated themselves.

While I certainly do not deny there is something special in the novelty of being alive in the era of the first black president of the United States, I would really like to know which you would rather. Having something special because of its novelty? Or having something special because it is proven and destined to happen again and again? This is definitely something to think about. Unfortunately, it should have been thought about prior to November 2, 2010.