I offered my opinion, and you had your say.

Now, About.com guest writer Jack Kerwick offers his two cents about the factors that contributed to Democrat Barack Obama's victory over Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

Kerwick seems to agree that the deck was stacked against McCain from the very beginning, and what chances he did have, he squandered. Kerwick also apparently believes that McCain's lack of solid conservative credentials might have had a role in the election's outcome.

From the column:

McCain and Obama differ in degree, not in kind. The latter is an out and out leftist, but the former leans left on several issues also: there is a fine line between “centrism” and “leftism.” A left-leaning Republican candidate, or “RINO” (Republican In Name Only), especially one like McCain who had long ago fallen out of favor with the base of his party, can’t but fail to elicit the type of passion and excitement characteristic of Obama’s supporters. It is true that his pick of Sarah Palin breathed life back into his base, but the inescapable fact is that McCain was at the top of the ticket, not Palin.

Dear Mr. President-Elect,

Among the millions of Americans who voted for you in the Nov. 4 general election, I was not one.

That doesn't mean, however, that I will not support your presidency. When you take office in January, I will bear steadfast allegiance to you and everything I believe you represent. To me, you represent renewed hope for our country, and I therefore ask the following of you:

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What's to like about a Barack Obama presidency? More than you think if you're a conservative.

In the wake of Obama's historic victory over Republican nominee John McCain, About.com guest commentator Jack Kerwick examines the upside about the Democrat's win and what conservatives can hope it will mean for America and the future of the movement.

From the column:

An Obama presidency could, and no doubt does, signify to some the passing of “the old order,” or what has more cynically been described as “white dispossession.” To others, it is a symbol that blacks have, at long last, “overcome.” Yet to me, and no doubt to everyone else who has thrills over the reality of an Obama presidency that would eclipse even those that overtake Chris Mathews’ whenever he catches a glimpse of Obama, Obama’s election is a resounding repudiation of the poisonous, but profitable, fiction that America is a “racist” country.

As they watch Democrats sharpen their claws and prepare to implement one of the most liberal agendas in American history, conservatives are understandably nervous.

Will Republicans be able to stop the more liberal aspects of the Democratic agenda? Will the new Congress become a rubber stamp for the Barack Obama administration's legislative initiatives? What are the Democratic priorities facing Congress in Obama's first 100 days?

In the coming weeks, we'll attempt to answer the most frequently asked questions about the fallout from last week's election. Today, we analyze the legislative priorities of Democratic leaders to find out what conservatives can expect in the first year of the 111th Congress.

Nearly two-dozen conservative leaders met Thursday for the first of what may be several meetings at the Virginia residence of Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center. The goal of these discussions will be to discuss the future of the conservative movement in the wake of Tuesday’s election results.

As president-elect Barack Obama begins choosing cabinet members, a process that will provide insight into whether he will run a centrist administration or a liberal one, conservative leaders are trying to sort out what his victory will mean to the movement.

Conservatives such as Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy Studies, and Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, were among the many attendants who are not only taking stock of where the movement stands, they're also hoping to redefine its message.

Already, however, they may be going through denial. And, worse, the emerging rhetoric seems no different than it was before the election.

In an interview with FOX News on Friday, Bozell maintained that "conservatives didn't play a role in this campaign."

"This was a moderate Republican against a liberal Democrat," Bozell told FOX News' Bill Hemmer. "Conservatives had nothing to do with it."

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Now's Your Chance to Voice an Opinion: Vote Today!

In the end, there was little Republican presidential nominee John McCain could have done.

Historians, of course, will second guess his every move, and certainly it must be admitted that his campaign was not as focused or as smooth as it should have or could have been. They'll say McCain's decision to tap Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was his downfall, and certainly she cost him votes, but not because of who she was. She cost him votes because she was not used effectively. They'll say McCain should have run a less negative campaign, and perhaps that's true, but that wasn't what cost him the election. Even if he had run the perfect campaign against his Democratic rival and new president-elect, Barack Obama, McCain still would have lost this election.

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Just for fun last week, I decided to interview a conservative friend of mine to pick his brain and find out why he was voting for Republican nominee John McCain and his vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

Mike Verno is a boisterous fellow, full of conviction and a penetrating intelligence that is apparent five minutes after meeting him. If anyone could make the case for the McCain/Palin ticket, it was this guy.

Or so I thought.

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Already, civil rights leaders are claiming that by closely scrutinizing Democrat Barack Obama's background, Republican presidential candidate John McCain is creating a racially-charged environment.

Huh?

It's true. And as the campaign draws to a close, the American people are left to wonder what the racial consequences of the 2008 presidential election will be. If McCain wins, will there be riots in the streets? If Obama wins will there be a sudden racial role reversal in American society? Will tomorrow's election be the first salvo in a national class war that has been simmering for time out of mind?

It is unfortunate, though entirely possible, that these concerns may actually overshadow every legitimate issue discussed in this campaign -- the economy, the housing market meltdown, the financial crisis, the war and so many others. Get the psychiatrist on standby, because we may have a whole bunch of new issues to deal with by the time Wednesday morning arrives.

In this week's Kerwick's corner, Jack Kerwick examines what race relations will be like in a world beyond the 2008 presidential election. From the column:

If Obama suffers a loss, his supporters generally, and his black supporters in particular, will insist, unabashedly, indignantly, incessantly, that it was because of “racism.” A Democratic-friendly media that has spent decades nurturing and shaping our culture’s “politically correct” orthodoxy, as well as, more recently, Obama’s pubic facade, will all too happily facilitate this insidious fiction. Distrust and unease between blacks and whites will deepen.

If, on the other hand, Obama prevails, then inter-racial tensions -- over the long run, in any event -- will worsen to an extent perhaps even greater than that to which they will worsen in the wake of his defeat.

• One More Before 11/04
• BTW, I'm Voting For McCain/Palin
• Election 2K H8

In June, the rhetoric ended -- as it has several times since.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama had declared publicly that he wanted to "lead by example," by "turning down all contributions from federal lobbyists and the political action committees that the special interests use to pass out campaign money."

And then suddenly, Obama changed his mind. Contributions from federal lobbyists were suddenly OK. Special interest money was suddenly in vogue. The rhetoric just ... suddenly ... stopped.

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