I can’t help feeling an enormous sense of pride in the the Obama’s, Joe Biden, the Kennedy’s — finally, at long last, the real Democrats are in charge. Comparably speaking, the Republicans are a bunch of hollow, flaccid, losers. The intelligence, compassion, warmth and leadership they showed is just stunning.

Michelle’s speech was remarkable, just fantastic. If we lose this election, it’s not for a lack of trying, lack of sincerity, or lack of idealism. We’ve got a great team, the best team possible.

It’s now up to the Americans to see the truth through the smears and lies.

I don’t know about you, but I hate re-runs of old television shows. As a boy, there was a brief time when we were only able to tune in a Christian-run UHF channel from Pennsylvania. At dinner, my parents watched Bonanza. This was in 1989 – 1990. I hated that show.

But there were people out there who loved Bonanza — who love it still today. Little Joe and Hoss and Ben Cartwright. And their monotonous, wholesome adventures out West without any women at all.

Presidential campaigns feel a lot like Bonanza. They’re predictable, particularly since 2000. This is the third campaign since Al Gore famously won the popular vote, but lost the war, and it’s the same show.

Republicans run endless smear ads against the Democrat, making him unacceptable to the average voter. The Democrats wring their hands: “If only the average voter new the truth, they would realize that the Republicans are lying.”

But here’s the thing, folks. Americans have loved the Republican Party since Richard Nixon, and the Republicans use smears and negative ads, because they work, and on some level Americans want to emrbace the myth of the Democratic traitor trying to seize control of the Presidency from “good” and “honest” men like George W. Bush and John McCain.

It’s time for us to wake up and realize that on a macro level, Americans believe that narrative about Democrats — they expect it, and when they hear it, they embrace it. Obama is not a terrorist-sympathizing Black Panther hippie Weatherman Ivy league elitist muslim who hates America. Yet, people believe the lie because they want to believe it. Even if it contradicts itself.

I suspect a lot of this is generational — it’s people who lived through the sixities horrified what liberals wrought on the country, people who lost their jobs due to what they perceived as liberal abuses such as affirmative action, or people who had a bad experience with the New Deal and the Great Society.

There’s a guy at work — a conservative, but a nice enough bloke — who is constantly labeling me, accusing me of having beliefs that I just don’t have. No, I don’t drink herbal tea. No, I don’t drive a Prius. No, I don’t eat organic produce. No, I’m not a vegan. No, I’m not obsessed with saving the planet. But he knows I’m a Democrat — so he imposes these things onto me. I am a progressive, I try to tell him, but my politics are rooted in my father’s Union activism, in blue collar Democratic traditions. And there was a time when I was young that I called myself a conservative. But the complexities of my beliefs are too much for this guy — he likes the cliched narrative better. He can’t believe otherwise.

And that’s the problem with Americans. They love Bonanza re-runs — they love having the story come quick, easy, simple and pre-packaged. Good versus evil. Black and white. And yes, I mean that literally, because race is a huge factor in the narrative against Obama.

There is a new generation on the cusp of delivering the presidency to a progressive, but the old generation, the sixties boomers still fighting the wars of their youth will dominate the cycle for a few more elections. Once they’re gone, I hope their successors will be ready for a new story besides the strong-willed American patriot versus the pinko-commie traitor bad guy. But honestly, I’m not that optimistic.

After all, Bonanza is still running on TV Land.

Yes, the general election is stressful for both sides, but take a break.  Kick back and relive Obama’s victory over Hillary Clinton.  Politico’s Roger Simon has a great series up which explains why Obama’s team won and Clinton’s team lost.  Not as scandalous as the recent Atlantic piece, but more comprehensive in its narrative.

Click here to read it.