A matter of communications between percentages

No doubt brought to you by the same people who put up that idiotic “We’re sorry” web site after the 2004 elections, there’s a site up that’s calling itself “from52to48withlove.” And no, it’s not some internet porn site. This is a string of pictures people have taken showing “the 52″ – that’s the 52% of Americans who voted for Obama – holding up signs imploring “the 48″ – that’s the 48% of us who voted for McCain – to reach out across the aisle and work together under the new administration.

My first thought? Yeah? Where were you guys in 2000 and 2004 when I was getting called “dumb” on magazine covers? Bob Owens of Confederate Yankee and Pajamas Media had a similar reaction:

How wonderful that you want to reach out now, after the last eight years.

You do remember the last eight years, right?

You lost in Florida. Remember how you reacted? “Selected, not elected,” and “Not my President” were the order of the day. But that was just the beginning. You kept nursing your grudge, cultivating it, stocking it, and formed insular, community-based realities to echo and increase your hysteria.

That budding insanity you reveled in helped lead to ever-more vicious rants and vitriol, of course, including the “Chimperor” angle, where the lesser accomplished of you bashed the President’s intellect, and later, of course, the frothing “Bushilter” and “Darth Cheney” rants.

Perhaps even worse, you let your contempt for President Bush and Vice President Cheney spread to hate those who put their lives on the line to serve this nation in your defense.

Mr. Owens says it quite well and I agree with his assessment at the end of the article. While there are pictures allegedly from “a 48″ to “the 52″ the site is clearly intended to be messages from the supporters of the winner to their opponents. I’ve run into the kind of attitude on display at the site in many, many places over the past few days, some just as an observer and some directed right at me. One of those used the same phrase I see in a few of these pictures: “I promise to listen to your points.” In reply I asked, point blank, why I would believe that promise after the last 8 years. I’ve asked in return why they are expecting we who supported McCain to behave differently than they did after their candidates lost to President Bush. Their response has been illuminating.

“Well,” they generally say, “we’ve got to break this cycle and start working together.” Fascinating that they only hold that opinion when it’s their side in control.

So, to the 52 I have a reply. Want me to believe you mean it? Prove it. Let’s see you really offer support and compromise and act like you give more than a passing fart about what concerns me. I’m not holding out much hope, but I’ll give you the shot at proving your intentions. Just never lose sight of who acted like the hysterical crybabies in the first place and never assume I’m motivated the same way.