Obama! Obama! Obama!

America has spoken! No, not my choice, but you have to respect the decision by such an overwhelming majority of Americans.

Emotionally drained is how I would describe myself after witnessing such a loss for Conservatives. However, I do wish Barack Obama well and can only hope that he is not the harbinger of the end of individualism.

There is also a modicum of anger whenever I look back on how Conservatives got in this position. George W. Bush held the key to preventing this loss but refused to put the key into the lock when it was important to do so. Bush, like McCain, stubbornly held onto the notion of accommodating the Liberals and therefore refused to take a leadership role. He allowed the left's rhetoric to go unchecked ad-nausea without so much as a peep in his own defense. Bush was so intent on that crazy idea of 'cooperating' and 'getting along' with the Left, that he forgot that he was supposed to lead. Bush had the bully pulpit of the presidency and failed to use it.

It is no wonder that this election was a referendum on Bush. Americans wanted change from the status quo. But more than anything, they wanted leadership. Barack Obama stepped up to the plate with positive ideas that galvanized the people to his way of thinking. He offered them leadership and a new direction.

The day before the election:

It is getting harder to ignore the huge crowds at the Obama rallies. The enthusiasm and size of the throngs that flock to his campaign stops do not bode well for McCain. Grudgingly I have to concede that the polls are probably correct and that Obama will indeed be our next President. I hear the carping from the right about McCain not being conservative enough, and maybe they are right.

Wednesday will be a day for finger pointing among the Republicans unless there is a miracle tomorrow. My finger pointing started months ago when it became obvious that McCain would be the standard-bearer for the Republicans. Even in those earliest days, I detected that the American people wanted a decisive leader and not another compromising continuation of the status quo. McCain offers nothing new except Sarah Palin, but even she cannot pull off the impossible.

One of my fingers points to a totally ignorant Republican read on Obama. Republicans missed the fact that Obama is a true believer in the 'bottom-up' economy. The bottom up economy is the cornerstone for every promise to the middle and lower economical groups. He will cut their taxes. No other model exists for that style of economy to succeed. The middle and lower economical groups will be the spenders to initiate commercial activity. The upper income groups and the Federal Government will share in the rewards for this commercial activity. The Federal Government will harvest its share from the businesses and upper income groups and repackage that money into governmental projects and distribution back to the lower income groups. By recycling the money back to the lower income groups, the cycle will continue.

I have no doubts that the scheme won't work for a while, but it runs out of steam after a while. For beginners, there has to be an income level that divides the taxpayers from the non-tax payers. Arbitrarily, Obama has set this amount at $250,000. All income earned up to that magic number would be relatively free of Federal income taxes. (But everyone will still have to pony up property and state taxes.) For those making above the magic income number, after the Bush tax cuts expire, the taxes are progressive up to about 40% of income. But the tax scheme is only getting started for the upper income groups and corporations. Capital gains taxes are projected to rise to 28% (From O'Reilly interview with Obama), while corporate taxes are expected to rise above the 40% range.

The demands of the bottoms up economy will exhaust the creativity of entrepreneurs and soon the jobless rate will start inching upwards. The loss of jobs creates the most havoc with the bottoms up economy. As more people lose their incomes, the Federal Government comes under stress for jobless benefits. This will trigger a lowering of the magic income number in an attempt to increase revenues.

Capping the rewards for a person willing to take a business risk only serves to discourage that person. There is no point in growing a business just to pay more taxes. Job growth will suffer from the effects of a bottoms up economy.

It is sad that John McCain hasn't been making the case against Obama's insane proposal, but then his whole campaign hasn't made much sense.

So it is with a sense of foreboding that I await tomorrow's anticipated fiasco.

Cheers, (I think)

-Robert-