Now if you read by earlier blogs, long before the primaries had produced Obama and McCain as the winners of their respective parties nomination, I had guaranteed a Republican win. I guess I am no Nostradamus but there were factors no one could have expected and others I analyzed wrong.

1)No one saw the economic meltdown of the housing,financial and overall stock market. Its true that people vote their pocketbook and with less money in their 401k's McCain never had a chance. Voters will blame the party in power.

2)Along the same lines, I under estimated the unpopularity of President Bush. The economic melt down and the war (which was never an issue because of the economy) had Bush's popularity rating hovering around 20%. McCain never distanced himself from him and Obama attacked him relentlessly for it. If McCain was smart he would have attacked the President and his non-conservative policies (domestic spending) and attacked Republicans as a whole. He had no problem doing this in 2000. If he really wanted to distanced himself from the administration, he would have votedagainst the bailout package. This would have differentiated himself from Obama and give the electorate a real choice on the economy. Overall, there were many mistakes his campaign had. Too many to list here.

Overall, this was an election that was a reflection on the economy and the popularity of the man in charge. I don't think that this is a shift towards the left as a nation, its all part of the cycle that both parties go though. I do see Republicans picking up seats two years from now making strides to regain power but it all depends on how successful Obama becomes.

As if I need anything else to complain about what goes on in Washington, especially when it comes to the establishment and the Democratic party. As you all know, I am not a man who minces his words but this time around I need to be especially blunt and honest analyzing these antics. In the last 48 hours there have been two acts of cowardliness by Democratic leaders. The first happened Friday when speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi shut down the House of Representatives, shutting off microphones, CSPAN cameras and turning off the lights. This was a preemptive strike of not wanting to hold a vote on a energy bill that would allow new drilling to curb our dependence of foreign oil. She is under a lot of pressure from Republicans and even a few members of her own party to bring this bill to a vote on the floor. She knows that if it was presented, it would pass because there would be enough sane Democrats out there that would vote with Republicans . New drilling is supported by a two to one margin by Americans, according to numerous polls. Nancy Pelosi couldn't have this happen. In her eyes, its a no win situation for the Democratic party. A no vote on the record would jeopardize the electability of Democratic congressmen based on the hottest election topic in 2008 A yes vote would enable the bill to pass and be signed by President Bush, giving Bush and the Republicans a much needed victory in the eyes of Americans. A yes vote would also clash with their supporters; Big Environment. Democratic candidates wouldn't ever go against this core Democratic group (they bow to the green shrine everyday, just ask Al Gore). Hey, Big Environment has deep pockets and a loud voice and would make sure than any Democrat that votes against their wishes, pay in November. This would make congress a little more equally divided in a election year that all pundits expected a increase by the Democratic party. So instead of doing the work of the American people that they are supposed to represent, they pull a cowardly prank like this. Why don't you Nancy, grow a pair and actually do something important that would cross party lines. This is just another reason why congress has even a smaller approval rating than President Bush.

The second cowardly act by a leading Democrat isn't as bad as what Nancy Pelosi did, but it shows what kind of candidate and man Barack Obama is and what kind of president he will be. Just today I heard a news story that Barack Obama will only participate in the three scheduled presidential debates with John McCain instead of participating in several town hall meetings alongside McCain across the country. This would have been the modern day version of the Lincoln-Douglas debates. I like town hall meetings better than the standard debates because the questions come unscripted from Americans instead of the same old questions that pundits ask. (There might be one town hall style debate in the three scheduled, but I wouldn't necessarily depend on the questions being unscripted or scanned prior to the event. ) I find it cowardly that a man who speaks about change, not being a Washington insider and like to change the way Washington works, would back out out of these town hall meetings, an idea he initially interested in doing with McCain. What is he afraid of? It has become more evident week by week, we see incidents where Obama has a problem speaking off the cuff. He is just fine if he has a teleprompter in front of him, but when it comes to improvising, he needs a lot of practice. In a town hall format, he wouldn't be able just to give the same old answer, most of the time has nothing to do with the question asked, like he would be able to do with a panel of political pundits. He's afraid that this would make him look bad and give McCain an advantage. Its all about playing defense with politics not offensive, it not winning a campaign but not losing one. While most of McCain campaign stops have been town hall meetings as of late, we still see few mistakes from McCain and in my opinion still looks a little bit too stiff talking in this environment. This isn't the first time Obama has done things that went against what he has said in the past. Public financing comes to mind. Early in his campaign he said he would accept public financing of his campaign like John McCain but that was before he got his hands on a windfall of fund raising that has crushed every Democratic records and easily beats McCain's effort. Instead of limiting his spending which would be a Washington outsider thing to do, he has bypassed public financing which gives him a limitless amount of money to spend. He is the first presidential candidate to do this. What ever happened to McCain-Feingold, that was embraced by the left to keep money out of politics. Hmmmm. Barack.

I just can't believe what Democrats can get away with and I know that the media won't hold their feet to the fire, so its up to talk radio, Fox news and the blogosphere to spread this news to the masses. I hope that America wakes up to the fact that the Democratic party doesn't speak for the common man trying to fill his pickup truck with $4.00 a gallon gas but to special interests that they rail against every election cycle. Its the same old Washington politics and I am getting sick of it.