Current mood: contemplative
Category: News and Politics
Posted: 6:48 PM Nov. 4, 2008
I find myself, this first day after the most historically significant election since, in my humble opinion, the election in 1932 of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, filled with emotions that are hard to discern.
AS of 11:00 EST last night, all major broadcast and cable-based news networks declared Senator Barack Hussein Obama (D, Illinois) the apparent president-elect of the United States of America.
This morning, at 5:50 AM EDT, the same networks, and newspapers all over the country, confirmed that the American public, with 349 confirmed electoral votes and 52% of the popular vote, had indeed spoken, and they said, "Yes, We Can!"
How do I put into words exactly how I feel? I have, for nearly 2 months now, railed against the attacks and lack of coherent message sent by Senator John McCain (R, Arizona), a man I admire as a Senator and as a war veteran. How could he do that? How could he sanction the things said about Obama in his name, his campaign's name, indeed by his running mate, and not have him rebut many of those things? From where did this caricature of an honorable man come, and what did he do with the "real" Senator McCain? How could he choose someone nicknamed Caribou Barbie (with reason, IMHO) by political wags as his potential successor? With her wardrobe costs being announced and the RNCC's supposed hardships raising money, that seemed to call into question the abilities of the economic advisors for the McCain ticket. Not to mention Governor Sarah Palin's (R, Alaska) attacks and lacks. Here's a woman who claimed (through the use of Joe Wurzelbacher, also known as "Joe the Plumber", whose own credibility is questionable) that Senator Obama is a socialist, after having pushed (successfully, I might add) for the taxation of oil companies drilling in Alaska for partial redistribution amongst Alaskans because they (ostensibly?) own the oil reserves there - by
definition a socialistic move. With many other examples of issues I have had with McCain's campaign, and with the direction the nation has turned under 6 of the last 8 years, I was definitely voting for Senators Obama and Joe Biden (D, Delaware).
I was cautiously enthusiastic about the initial results, even as they called the election for Obama/Biden at around 10 PM last night. Then as I listened to the concession speech given by Senator McCain, it began to sink in. Then I heard about the phone call from President
Shrub Bush congratulating President-elect Obama, it began to sink in. And when I heard Obama's "acceptance" speech (which you can view for yourselves
here). I used quotes here, because although President-elect Obama made this speech at 12:00 AM EDT this morning after he was declared the winner, he did not accept his election as his own victory - he credited it to America. In his own words, this election "...proved that more than two centuries later [i.e., after the Gettysburg Address], a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory." His words were pretty, his speech polished, his voice steady and strong. And his demeaner lent credence to his speech - these pretty, polished words rang true.
I have mixed feelings about another aspect of the election results. Naturally, understanding human nature as I do (not necessarily as any kind of expert, merely a 43-year-long witness of it), I realize that many non-white people, particularly blacks, would have voted for the first black man in US history to be a major party's nominee to the ballot for exactly that reason - he is black. That he is black (well, half - George Jefferson would have called him a "zebra", I believe...) is very significant. There was a time in US history that a black man would be lynched or beaten for even darkening the door of a polling place. It would seem that those days, not so very far behind us, are passing. Dr. Martin Luther King told us of his
dream. It would seem to me that last night, 45 years after he first told us this dream before the Lincoln Memorial, I believe his dream is beginning to manifest.
I found it very easy to look beyond his skin color and his parentage and look at the man. His inexperience in a leadership role was a minus, but his choice of running mate was sound - Biden was my second choice in the primary race - and his advisors were also sound - many of them were from cabinets and staff of other politicians, including Bill Clinton. He didn't address the nation's economic crunch until he understood it. I have examined his plan for health care, and it is a step in the right direction. I have seen the people backing him grow - not only in quantity but in stature. I can't find many reasons to vote against him, and many reasons to support him.
So now we are faced with a new future. That is a little daunting. Obama has told us he will be everyone's president. That fills me with pride. We are looking at new territory - we have made a bold move in history. That also fills me pride. That I am only one of a large number of people who also supported him gives me hope - hope that our future is turning for the better. I find myself watching the footage from last night over and over, and I am so moved by the words, and the
conviction behind them, that I can't really say exactly what I feel. I am also saddened that many of the people I respect, admire, lust after don't agree - Anger clouds the minds of many, but many others just don't fit any mold offered by either major party. Except that which might be found on a sandwich left under a bed... But I still respect, admire, lust after them regardless. And I still have respect for the soldier and the Senator named McCain.
I, along with multitudes of others, decided to say, "Yes, We Can!"
I just hope God grants me one other request - to hold me tongue around my boss... I love my job, and the money it pays me... :-)
Rock on!
Durham
