I have been reading a lot and watching a lot of television about Tuesday’s presidential election.
I’ve seen the pundits disect this election like a heavy-handed 10th-grader going after that frog in biology class.
Still, I think they have missed a couple of very important points. So with that, I’d like to add my name to the list of those who believe we have something so important and so crucial to say that it demands space in a newspaper and air time on television and radio.
It’s my list of the real winners and losers of the 2012 presidential election.
I’ll start with a winner, and it should come as no surprise but the biggest winner Tuesday night was ... Jay Pharoh.
For those who don’t know, Jay Pharoh is the comedian on "Saturday Night Live" who does a pretty good imitation of President Barack Obama. With Obama’s victory, Pharoh just guaranteed himself a pretty good job for the next four years.
But for every winner, there is a loser, and I can’t help but think Jon Stewart of Comedy Central’s "The Daily Show" is feeling like a loser today. Had Mitt Romney won the White House, the Democratically-leaning Stewart would have had four years to make jokes at Romney’s expense. I wonder where he’ll go for material.
As for another winner, I think it’s Fox News and all the conservative radio talk show hosts. Obama’s victory just guaranteed them another four years of conspiracy theories with which to amaze us.
Don’t get me wrong: Democrats also come up with some strange ones at times, but usually it’s the group that’s not in power that comes up with the most outlandish statements.
Another loser? The $6 billion spent on this election that for the most part changed nothing. I can’t help but think that this $6 billion could have been spent on a lot of better things in this country than an election.
Of course the biggest winner is the United States, but not for the reason you may think. Every four years this country shows the rest of the world the power of the people. No matter which side wins, we show the world how to peacefully solve our differences at the ballot box. There is no greater power than the power of a vote.
Ken Buday is the editor and general manager of the Havelock News. He can be reached at 444-1999 or at ken.buday@havenews.com.
