My Gut Speaks and I Listen: Barack Obama Will Win the Election

Sarah Palin did fine in the debate last night, coming across as warm, sincere and real. The punditry is saying that she helped her own political future substantially, but not necessarily that of John McCain. McCain has been too constrained in making legitimate criticisms of Obama and his history of radicalism, probably because Obama is black and McCain is apparently afraid of the bogus racism charge that is sure to come should he win. That, or he has some self-defeating notion that remaining a “gentleman” in a bare-knuckles sport is the highest priority.

McCain will debate Obama again next week and he has to come out swinging or relegate himself to the political dustbin of history. But will he?

My intuition is often very accurate. This morning when I woke up, I had a strong feeling of certitude that we Republicans are going to lose this election and that Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States. It wasn’t a panicky feeling or a worried feeling or a feeling of fear, it was a calm realization, an inner knowing. It told me in a quiet but clear voice that the election is lost. The inner voice presented it to me as a done deal.

The reason is simple. Americans just get tired of the same brand, the same color, the same style and want to make a change. It’s a gamble that they are willing to take, that some way, somehow, someone new may have the answers to the country’s ills just as he promises. They just want a change, and not for any deep political or philosophical reasons, but as a simple reaction to boredom. That's the main reason Hillary lost to Obama. The public is tired of hearing about the Clintons. It's an old book that they've read before.

It’s as if they (the voters) have been driving a blue car for eight years and now want to buy a green one or a red one. After having been on a diet of bland food for eight years, they decide to throw caution to the wind and eat a banana cream pie. Whole. Screw it, they say, I’ll worry about the consequences tomorrow.

This need for change, any change, even potentially dangerous or harmful change, is somehow buried deep in the psyche of humans and is not entirely rational. All the debating and cold analysis won’t change enough minds to make a difference. Obama will be the next president because America wants a binge and will have it. After the binge will come the hangover and the violent retching over the porcelain throne, followed by the election of Republicans as sanity returns.

It's sad, but politics is somewhat cyclical, like the annual rites where religious penitents cut themselves with knives or whip themselves with chains. Pain must be inflicted and blood must be shed, and who knows why. Obama's election will be America whipping itself. America will bleed and it will be painful, but then the healing will begin.

The country has been split down the middle politically since 2000. Perhaps it will move closer together after Obama and the Democrats further ruin the economy, weaken our military and expose us to terrorist harm. I see Obama as a trial the country must go through to find itself again; before a sick body can get well it must vomit the poison out of its system. Obama may be the finger-down-the-throat that induces the needed regurgitation; not by doing anything good for the country, but by reminding Americans that socialism and pacifism do not work and never have.

I hope like hell I'm wrong about this, but I don't think so. In the unpleasant chance that my gut is right, we will need to move into the next phase: opposition and resistance.