I popped back for a moment to write a few observations. I see Hobbes has been posting what is happening here. I just wish he would clean off the drool he leaves on the laptop when he is finished.

First, the election.

It is over. Now we wait until January 20 when the new team takes over in Washington, DC. It is a "fait accompli," and that was established by the overwhelming results of what the voters did on Tuesday (and in the weeks before that.)

The country will now struggle through a winter of discord, frozen by the loss of economic strength brought on by the financial crisis. Christmas looks grim, but there is hope. Next year is going to be one of tight belts and lean balance sheets. There is much work to do.

We can go on and on with a recap of what caused this monumental shift in voters' attitudes. My take is that after eight years of providing the "conservatives" the opportunity to get it right - they blew it.

What happened?

I think the conservatives were too wrapped up in their so-called coalitions that they lost the momentum. The right-wing stayed within their outdated nineteenth Century ideology. They did not encompass the source of power that comes from a growing, better educated voting populace.

Their ideology includes tax cuts and loopholes for everybody but the middle class and the working class. It includes the minority view that a woman's choice should be illegal. It includes teaching "Creationism" in public-supported schools. It includes other facets of less freedom and opportunity that the voters rejected.

The winning party built their coalition around the expanding voter rolls. It brought in a new generation with more prevalent ideologies. It energized the mass of Democrat and Independent voters who had neglected to exercise their voting power in the previous two elections.

The Republicans must consider how to rebuild, and they will, but my take says they won't get it right until a new generation of Republicans assume the mantle of control in that party. That may take a decade.

But the election is over. That's all that's "over." Now America must rebuild - and rebuilding means retooling for the future.

Retooling.

The great effort of the next decade is going to be structured around energy. The US imports so much of it that our national wealth is streaming away at an incredible rate. We have become so dependent on imported oil that every citizen is as the mercy of a cartel which controls a large chunk of oil. We need to change that.

We will change that. I have studied some of the plans. T. Boone Pickens has some good ideas. I believe he will have a large say-so in the Obama Administration. But that won't be enough.

We need to reinvent energy. We need to drill (yes we do and "Yes we can."), and we need to pursue alternative sources. We are going to see the skyline decorated with windmills and solar farms. We are going to see new nuclear plants, and safe ones. We are going to see other more drastic changes, too. Electric cars and trucks will have to be invented and built.

That brings me to a very basic retooling... The auto industry. One out of every ten jobs in the country is in the auto industry. Over the winter that industry will undergo very fundamental changes. There are going to be heavy layoffs. For every auto company job that is shut down, several more will follow. So much depends on the industry and its success.

By this time two years from now a much larger percentage of autos will run on CNG and battery power. Already, in California, hydrogen filling stations and CNG stations are popping up. The more they build, the cheaper the fuel will be. The cars that run on those power sources must be manufactured in quantity.

Detroit has never been a place of much "vision." The old adage that "what's good for GeneralMotors is good for the country" grew stale as the import brands of cars grabbed the buyers away from the large gass-guzzling machines coming off Detroit's assembly lines. The American companies tried to keep up and built smaller more fuel efficient cars, but never quite regained their dominant place in the market.

Now they have the opportunity to regain it.

Retooling Detroit will be expensive but can produce terrific results for the country. Part of that process will be to revamp the fuel-to-consumer system. If they build the hydrogen cars and the electric machines, people will buy them. The fear that falling gasoline prices may hamper that must be overcome. Signs are already in focus that even with falling tank prices the population is still cutting gasoline usage.

That's a good thing.

Our cars will be smaller and leaner. Our eyes will always be on the pump prices now. We have seen four dollar a gallon gas and we fear it may come again.

The Obama Administration's first 100 days will not see an effort to revamp health care or pump up education. That will wait until the economy and the energy problems have been tackled. The honeymoon period will be focused on getting the nation back to work and saving the economy. Part of that will be to reduce our presence in Iraq and turn over the role of liberators to the Iraqis themselves. We spend between ten and twelve billion dollars a month there and that money needs to be redirected toward saving America. The real anti-terror effort will be returned again to the Afghan theater. Osama bin Laden is still in a hut or a cave somewhere over the border in Waziristan, and he and his henchmen must be brought to justice, finally.

The voters tired after 8 years of being ignored. They want the American Dream again. They want to keep food on their family tables. They want to fill up their tanks without cutting something else out of their budgets. They want true security. They want to be relieved of supporting the priviledged classes and their tax loopholes on their backs. They want jobs and homes, good schools and a future full of opportunity for their children. They want to be able to drive over a bridge without fear of it collapsing because our infrastructure is crumbling.

They voted for those dreams Tuesday.

...........

As for me, I will still be busy with personal things. Hobbie can keep you informed. He's a good boy, and I am sure his spelling will eventually get better.

Oh. I had a bad gall bladder attack last Friday that put me in the Hospital. It was my first experience with that organ and I hope it was my last. I had an ultrasound Tuesday morning but have no results as of today. I severly modified my diet and am eating right. Last night I made a ground turkey meatloaf with chopped green beans, garlic, parsley, olive oil, Italian bread crumbs and a few mild spices. It was magnificent and I ate slices of it on Ciabatta bread. I can do this, but the alcohol, dairy, meat,eggs, legumes and other substances are very much missed and craved. I cut my coffee to two cups a day. My body flows with Omega-3 Fish Oil capsules. You'd think I was a health nut or something!

I would give a leg for a nice glass of tequila!