Obama Won

This is a hard post for me to write on many levels. It's the RIGHT post for me to write ALSO on many levels. The signature photo will be the worst that I might say for a while...unless... I've never been so involved in politics as I have been over the past campaign. Heck, the last two Presidents Clinton & Bush took up the last 16 years of my life, that's basically a generation. My youngest son is 19. Before that, Bush Sr. took up 4. For 20 years, our nation has been ruled by the same two families. I fought HARD for the GOP this year, and our candidate John McCain lost tonight with grace, and losers must be gracious as winners should be. My Mama also taught me that whether or not you respect the person sometimes, it's important to respect the position of a person if they are managing that position in a responsible way. Barack Hussein Obama will not take office until January, 2009. I'm not happy that he won and I have a lot of fear that life will change drastically for the worse for ALL OF US in the next four years. However I see that as HOPE and I see that as CHANGE. BECAUSE, if I have to pay that detrimental price for four years to FINALLY get our country back on track, I'll just work harder, do better, and be glad that the NEXT generation doesn't have to live through what I had to live through with Jimmy Carter! With the last 20 years being consumed by not much in Washington and most to our detriment in a lot of ways...it just might be time for CHANGE. (I LOVED BUSH JR. FIRST 4 YEARS)... It may not be GOOD change that's coming our way, but folks that don't take interest in the big picture are the same people that just don't educate themselves on the "end result" of what their politicians will do to them. (THIS ELECTION...EVERYBODY was taking notice!) If BAD change happens, then FINALLY in 2012 we will see a trend back to normalcy and common sense. Sometimes you have to let people learn the hard way that something for nothing is never good, if it sounds too good to be true it probably IS, and NO MATTER HOW MANY TIMES anybody tells you "Trust me, I've been there", THEY never "get it" until they've been there themselves. I HOPE that we as a nation have not let or raised SO MANY people to believe that hand outs are better than hard work and success to the extent that it becomes the nation's standard forever. For if that's true, we are all doomed because if I keep having to pay for more and more of others' needs because they don't feel it necessary to do it on their own...guess what...we will have another Civil War. I will NOT continue to bust my ass and employ people that think I owe them everything (and BELIEVE ME...it's NOT all of MY employees I worry about) (My employees make pretty good money and as long as I CAN under Obama's rule, I WILL appreciate them!). I owe you the decent paycheck you are earning, as many benefits that I can offer you (government allowing), and bonuses anytime you do something really cool. Beyond that, I don't owe you shit. And if you cry shit, poor mouth, oh poor me,...if you do substandard work because you "just don't think you feel like working hard"... then look at your own surroundings or circumstances. I do the very best I can for everyone that I can that works for me. Also...when the Obama supporters shrug a nose down at me...don't forget this. I grew up on a dirt poor cotton farm in West Texas raised by some of the best people on earth. Because I OWN the business YOU work at? Don't EVER THINK I don't know what "living in a tent" is like. I've been there. I've been a single mom, I've BEEN the gal that counted change in a zip-loc bag just to buy necessities on an occasion or two. I've left my children in daycare that was less than appropriate for them, but all the while making the decision whether to work and feed them or stay at home and hope like hell someone would feed us. Guess what...I had to work, WORK... It may seem to employees that business owners have the "cushy life", but we didn't get there but for learning THE HARD WAY that nothing viable comes without sacrifice and scratching. When at the "top" (while we pay all the taxes), you may think we look down, but each and every day we LOOK UP, and thank God that we survived, learned, and have folks willing to make no less than $14 per hour to help us along the way...and REALLY HOPE those making $28 per hour see it more :) THERE ARE NO EMPLOYERS THAT WERE NOT EMPLOYEES AT SOME TIME! I look up yesterday, I will look up tomorrow, and I will FOREVER LOOK UP at the people that make America work, and THAT'S ALL THE EMPLOYEES! I used to be one, and many days I wish I was one again :)...and still we are still employees of our own companies :) Working managers of small businesses have the rare opportunity to see BOTH SIDES of the fence. Strange place to be some days :) IN MY LIFETIME - 4 of 11 Presidents had "uncanny" circumstances lead them into or out of office! That's a LOT! Weird things CAN change a nation! NOT TO MENTION 9-11! You think George Bush, Jr. was "expecting" THAT to happen? Again...don't be so quick to judge that you are not so quick to remember! At that time YOU gave him the unprecedented 71% approval ratings. TODAY, your Congress has a 9% approval rating and Bush STILL has a 26% approval rating! Do ANY OF YOU understand NUMBERS? If Obama promised you so much more, and you truly believe that he will provide you so much more then my hat's off to you for voting for him. However, when it DOESN'T happen? When Obama turns out NOT to be the knight on the silver horse? Guess what...don't come crying to me. My new mantra will be, "Call Obama...he promised it to you...I tried to tell you...I didn't vote for him...YOU DID!". On the other hand...what IF he turns out to be OK. I will be the first one to tip my hat to you and admit that he was the good idea you all had to make it better. None of us has a crystal ball, so that has to be a conversation for later... Shit has been in a bad way or at least an uncanny way for a LONG TIME...even before I was born! Check out the time line... Kennedy (JFK): 1960-1963 - Last GREAT speaker and Democrat of our time - Democrat taken down by a bullet in his first 1000 or so days. We'll never know how great he would have been... Johnson: 1964-1968 - Won by default when Kennedy got shot. Kennedy was much like Obama in the charismatic way...the country MOURNED, the last assassination since McKinley in 1901. Johnson won a new term one year later, but the country never got over Kennedy. "The New Guy" NEVER has a chance after a disaster like that, even though Johnson accomplished some great civil rights acts, tax cuts, AND HE TOOK US TO THE ORBIT OF THE MOON! BUT...he did not end Vietnam, and the country still MOURNED. He was NOT the charismatic speaker Kennedy was. Nixon: 1970-1972 - Republican Nixon wins big. Nixon accomplished profit sharing, end of the draft, appointed Conservative justices to office, LANDED folks on the MOON, and debated successfully for better peace in USSR, Egypt, etc. He even started the "green" movement with better environmental policy...BUT THEN CAME WATERGATE! That was back when "scandals" meant something. His own Vice President Spiro Agnew had skeletons in his closet, so EVEN BEFORE Nixon "quit", Agnew "quit" and thus...Nixon APPOINTED the next president Gerald Ford! THREE GUYS in the course of a mere 4 YEARS HAD the opportunity to lead this nation...quite an historical shakeup! Ford: 1972-1976 - Ford got thrown into a big shit box! Battling increasing inflation, energy shortages, world peace with Russia (USSR) all up in arms, being "the guy" that took over for the "guy that screwed everybody over"...he never had a shot either! He won the nomination again, but lost to Jimmy Carter. HOW BAD does the nation's mindset have to be to let a guy like Jimmy Carter WIN! The world as we knew it then was in a BAD STATE OF AFFAIRS! Carter: 1977-1980 - Carter will forever be known as the worst President in our nation's history. It was his fault that I had to leave my home state of Texas. He de-regulated petroleum, trucking, and airline industries...which immediately the prices went UP, UP, UP... He formed the Dept. of Education (good concept...bad policy his way), he appointed the largest numbers of folks to government jobs in history that were unqualified based merely on the fact they were women, or people of colors, and he raised our nation's interest rate to 21% in some states. He had a few good days in the Panama Canal and with Egypt. Otherwise, he CRUSHED our nation. Some of his de-regulation policies are just seeing their fruition TODAY, thus our economy again CRASHED! Yet, the unknowing, unstudying, "all for the poor that don't try" generation gave this freaking guy a Nobel Peace Prize! Go figure! It was the prize alright, just the prize for the guy that gave away the biggest PIECE of your pie anyone ever has! Peanuts & Billy Beer...remember him? Reagan: 1981-1988 - ALONG CAME REAGAN! Hollywood actor, Governor of California (LORD, I bet he flops in his grave each day if he could see CA now!), just an average guy (he was...some Hollywood types used to be average guys!)... America saw peace in his term. He tore down the wall in Berlin through policies of peace through STRENGTH, not "negotiation", or "let's talk". Reagan understood consequence and he led it. Not to mention that he was SHOT 69 days into his term AND LIVED! Folks like heroes that live through bullets when you're POTUS! He reformed the income tax code, bombed Libya because they terrorized a West Berlin night club, maintained free flow of oil during the Iran-Iraq war (bet you guys DON'T remember THAT...everybody NOW thinks it's all US wanting to start business with Iran or Iraq!) During his TWO TERMS, USA enjoyed its longest period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression. The country once again let a POTUS have TWO terms (LAST ONE SINCE EISENHOWER in 1953 who was BEFORE Kennedy OVER A GENERATION AGO! History, what a trip! I'm beyond needing to give you a history lesson here. Since Reagan, and the folks just liked FOR ONCE since 1953 to get used to having a guy that could last two terms...they tried it again a couple of times. We then had Bush Sr. that only lasted 4 years...but then Clinton lasted EIGHT YEARS...then Bush Jr. lasted EIGHT YEARS...and folks...again...20 years "poof - gone". The last 20 years of America has been ruled by two families. It's no wonder the "unknowing", the "unstudying" decided to give a new guy a shot. Good luck to us all. Didn't want to bring race into this story...but my phone's been ringing & my e-mail's been hopping tonight from some who worry. My answer to you is THIS! If you are approached by folks all happy and high fiving' to the fact that the black man won...and you are GOP...PLEASE REMEMBER THIS! Barack Obama is as white as you are as the white man and he is as black as the black man is! His Mama was white and his Daddy was black. On the race issue, it doesn't get any more equal than that. So for the "banger" types, and the "klan" types...it's a misnomer! He's MIDDLE on that issue above ALL! Get OVER it! He's our next President and guess what? WE'RE HIS BOSS! HOW COOL IS THAT! Barack Obama won tonight. WE elected HIM! Give him a chance, slam him if he wrongs us...AND ABOVE ALL...REMEMBER...POTUS IS OUR EMPLOYEE! Also...remember THIS...the President or POTUS is but a mere figurehead...it's the CONGRESS that runs the country. If you don't like how things are going...worry more about your local, city, county, state, and national representatives! THOSE are the folks that carry the nation!