As some of you may have noticed, my participation in the RedState community has dropped significantly since the primaries. Several factors both personal and political contributed to my relative absence, not the least of which was my dissatisfaction with our Presidential nominee. Our grim prospects in Congressional races didn’t help. Those factors, combined with my personal situation and need to focus more on thins non-electronic, brought me to the conclusion that it was time for me to take a break.

Now that the election is over, I think it’s time for me to reintegrate, though perhaps in a reduced capacity. Being a sports fan and liking clear-cut wins and losses, I much prefer dealing with the electoral rather than the policy aspects of politics. To be sure, I understand that policy is much more important, and I have strong views on a variety of subjects, but my talents and my interests lead me to believe that I am more productive when focusing on the former. As such, I was extremely tempted to write my first post-election diary on the 2010 Senate races. Unfortunately for me, though, I think that that approach would only, albeit in a small way, lead us further down the same road we’re on.

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Like most other observers, I have for some time attributed Sen. Obama’s advantage in the polls largely to outside factors - the military action in Iraq, the financial crisis, America’s falling out with most of the rest of the world, the tarnished Republican brand, etc. The majority of voters want change, and Sen. Obama has assumed the mantle of change, which is a lot easier when you’re not actually in the President’s Party. Bring with that a fresh new face going up against someone who has been in Washington too long and most analysts will tell you that you pretty much see the whole picture of why Obama is all but a lock to win this election. They’re wrong.

The real story of this election - and just about any Presidential election - is that Americans want to vote for the optimist. For decades, Americans have been faced with clear choices in Presidential elections between one candidate who comes off as an optimist and another who, well, doesn’t. I’ll let those who are older than I speak to elections before 1980, but I’ll start with that one.

Americans had an affection for President Carter. He was, to the extent that anyone who becomes President can be, a man of the people. He served in the military and was a peanut farmer, actually engaged in the labor of the business, and a teacher. Those are adult jobs that not many Presidents of late have had. By 1980, though, Americans realized that they had elected a good man for the wrong job. President Carter had simply gotten himself in over his head.

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