A parenthetical aside from Slate:
(Despite a current of thought that insists that Roosevelt’s economic policies did nothing, they in fact helped the economy and improved the lives of millions of needy Americans in both the short and long terms.)
Well okay then! Glad that’s cleared up.
So this is a weird feeling; I actually wanted Obama to win (at least, more than McCain) but now that it’s happened I’m feeling worse about it than I thought I would. I guess it’s mainly the reaction that is getting on my nerves. My friends on Facebook are saying barf-worthy things like “going to bed with joy in my heart” and “Breathe in the air. Isn’t it sweet?” He’s a politician, people. Yes, for a politician, he seems to be a decent guy—but that’s a pretty big caveat there. Politicians are not nice people. Obama got to where he is by screwing over and double-crossing a lot of people, and you never would have heard of him if he hadn’t. And he’ll double-cross you too, and break your heart if you’re in love with him. So just calm down.
For my part, I’m mentally accessing the damage. He probably won’t pass the Fairness Doctrine, so I don’t need to freak out there. He was actually better on health care than Hillary, so hopefully we won’t end up with single-payer, at least. Net Neutrality probably will go through with Obama-appointed FCC commissioners, which sucks, but there are worse things. He made noises about mucking with NAFTA but I assume he’s lying about that. So overall I guess I’m cautiously optimistic. Of course he won’t do anything I like, but at least he’ll be ineffective in doing most of the things I dislike.
I note that National Review Online’s “The Corner” is being surprisingly gracious. Far more than, say, Daily Kos was four years ago. Take what you will from that.