No Surprise
Time Magazine names President Elect Barack Obama as the Person of the Year. Usually in presidential election years, the winner is usually considered the person of the year by default. For example, George W. Bush was named Person of the Year in 2000, even though he did nothing on his own merit to win the Presidency. Indeed, he actually lost the election. But I think we all can agree that Barack Obama earned this award, and if you doubt that, ask yourself whether on January 1, 2008 you thought Barack Obama would have not only won the Democratic nomination, but also 365 electoral votes against John McCain?
If you said yes, either you were a true believer from January 2007 (I was not), or you’re lying.
What I was right about:
1. I thought Obama would win the Democratic nomination. I’d been a true believer since 2004 and I gave money as soon as he jumped in.
2. I thought Hillary was vulnerable because of her Iraq War vote.
3. I thought 2008 was going to be a big Democratic year.
4. I thought John McCain would win the Republican primary, simply because everyone else was pretty ridiculous.
What I was wrong about…
1. I thought Iraq would be a big issue in the election.
2. I thought John McCain was the least ridiculous Republican candidate, but I think another Republican would have performed better. I think he’s the worst candidate I remember.
3. I thought the Republican primary would last longer.
Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Ronald Reagan were all named Time’s Man of the Year too.
What I was right about:
1. I thought Obama would win the Democratic nomination. I’d been a true believer since 2004 and I gave money as soon as he jumped in.
2. I thought Hillary would run a much better campaign and be even tougher to beat than she was.
3. I thought 2008 was going to be a big Democratic year.
4. Early on I thought it would be Romney by default because McCain was sooooooo terrible.
What I was wrong about…
1. I thought Obama being part African American was going to be a bigger issue.
2. I thought John McCain would run a better campaing and be tougher to beat.
3. I thought after the elections, some Republicans would be contrite about the fact that they fucked up the country so badly and they would resolve to be better Americans.
(I was way off on that one.)
I was wrong about everything, except of course this being a big Democratic year.
I thought Hillary would win NH and destroy Obama on Super Tuesday, thus ending the race. I thought the ticket would be Clinton-Obama.
Indeed, I was a Hillary supporter until the night of the Iowa Caucus, but the ugliness of the Bloggers for Hillary forum that night was so horrid that her supporters literally drove me into the arms of the Obama campaign (which I liked anyway, it was literally a tossup for me as to who to support).
I thought the Republican primary was going to be a long drawn up affair that would actually go to the convention, which would have drafted a candidate to face Hillary-Obama. I thought Gingrich was going to be that candidate.
I first wrote about Obama’s campaign on February 25, 2007 when I noticed that he had attracted 15,000 to a rally in Austin Texas.
Am I actually Jason?
I thought John Edwards was a better person.