What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding?
Are we still talking about the election? I know most of you are probably closing up that shop, but let me get in my little squeak before you do. I voted last Tuesday! For the first time! Legally 2004 was my first election, but it was also my first term in college and I was in a different state and didn't know what I was doing and didn't care enough to figure it out, so I didn't vote and hoped no one at my politically-minded school would notice. I felt a little guilty because I knew what an important election it was, and so I was adamant not to be that passive for this election. You know, I spent a good portion of these last seven or so months with the feeling that, no matter how much I wished for it, Obama wouldn't win, and it wasn't until the fall came with the debates and changes in the nominees' campaigns and changes in the economy that I felt a victorious Obama was a real possibility. Because, let's face it, a well-known and conservative Republican over weird-named Obama? I assumed most of the country wouldn't put much thought into such decision. And then all these polls started putting Obama ahead and it seemed so possible. So I wasn't completely surprised on election day. That night I had fallen asleep early in my parents' bedroom because I was too lazy to go up to my own bed, and when my mom got me out of her room she woke me with a reluctant "I think your guy is going to win." I caught a few minutes of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert live before I switched over to ABC news where a ridiculously calm and professional Charles Gibson said that they wouldn't call a winner until the west coast states closed their polls at eleven. Then he paused a second and said that it was eleven and the polls closed and they're calling Obama the winner. And I had the look of a confused puppy for a second because I was like, "wait, what, I thought that wasn't going to happen yet!" It was a bit anti-climactic, haha. Also, how weird is it to know who won on election night? That hasn't happened in twelve years!
I really liked McCain's concession speech and thought, aside from the numbskulls in the audience booing at the mention of Obama, it was very gracious (if only McCain had tried a little more of that sort of thing during his actual campaign). I felt a little bad for Sarah Palin on the sidelines because she looked so sad. It was never her idea to run for vice president -- she got wrangled into it by McCain's people and they put her out there and I don't think she ever really knew what she was saying or what was going on, but she went in the direction she was pointed and really believed in what they were having her do. And with that came the huge disappointment in a loss I don't think she expected. What's worse is that the GOP now seems to be using her as a scapegoat for McCain's loss. She was grossly unqualified for the position but I always thought she was so bad for McCain mainly because she embodied a poorly-made and immensely superficial decision on behalf of his campaign, rather than the idea that she single-handedly wrecked McCain's chances with her inexperience being isolated from the rest of his strategy. After all, it's not like she fired a gun into the Alaskan air and shouted "Hey McCain, I think whatcha really need is a pitbulll in lipstick!" and then winked in Arizona's direction, her messenger hawks already headed to nab McCain in their talons.
Though I was excited and proud and happy for the event, I actually wasn't too crazy about Obama's victory speech, or at least not its delivery. His steadiness that I normally find so attractive seemed uneccessarily constant throughout the speech, so that he talked about the future of America and promised his kids a puppy all in the same official tone. I prefer when he trows a little Fred Sanford into it, though okay, I guess an election victory speech wouldn't be the most appropriate occassion for that. OR WOULD IT...?
In summary, I was and am so proud of my country for not voting from fear. During the campaigns, whenever I heard someone use a political scare tactic and I found myself in a moment of doubt, I reaffirmed to myself that I refused to vote from fear. And then to find that the whole nation voted for hope over fear... Well, shoot. America, I love you more. And Ohio! Oh baby, you got the blues and I love it. I was, as I mentioned before, the only one in my familial circle really for Obama, and it felt so good to find that I hadn't been alone in my hope, that beyond my family and the livejournal names, there were people I didn't know out there in the real world putting in a vote for Obama and what they believed in. Reading over your reactions to the idea of "President-elect Barack Obama" in the following days was wonderful. Everyone who wrote about the election was some degree of happy, with quite a few of you crying from joy and pride and relief. The following Wednesday I ventured out on my own and every time I passed an Obama or McCain support sign on a lawn, I was reminded of what had happened the day before and joy spread over my face in a grin. I'm not interested in gloating over the McCain-ers nor the "Obama is a radical Muslim" camp. That's not what I feel. What I really care about is that hope triumphed, and that now Obama's detractors will discover that the world will not end because of his presidency and that they need not be afraid.
Today I went to a Bath & Body Works to smell their holiday candles and a clerk greeted me by saying that it feels like the holidays now with the cold weather. I said that commercials and retail stores have been making me think it's the holidays before it actually is, and she said that their store was pretty good because K-Mart had Christmas trees up weeks ago, and I concurred and said that Kohl's had Christmas displays up at the end of September. But then the clerk, who was middle-aged and the more extroverted type, said that people seem to be in the holiday mood, like there's something going on what with a new president and everything. Then she added, touching my arm and laughing "not to tell you everything about my church," but that the sermon at her church last Sunday was all about change, and that people just seem to be happier. I said that people are in a celebratory mood and she was like, "That's it!" And I realized, there is the normal relief that follows the uncertainty of an election year but there is so much more than usual to what happened this year, and that positive aftermath of good feeling isn't going away any time soon. The idea that it will carry over into the holidays, whether people may be aware of it or not, pleases me to no end. I think this calls for a :D
I really liked McCain's concession speech and thought, aside from the numbskulls in the audience booing at the mention of Obama, it was very gracious (if only McCain had tried a little more of that sort of thing during his actual campaign). I felt a little bad for Sarah Palin on the sidelines because she looked so sad. It was never her idea to run for vice president -- she got wrangled into it by McCain's people and they put her out there and I don't think she ever really knew what she was saying or what was going on, but she went in the direction she was pointed and really believed in what they were having her do. And with that came the huge disappointment in a loss I don't think she expected. What's worse is that the GOP now seems to be using her as a scapegoat for McCain's loss. She was grossly unqualified for the position but I always thought she was so bad for McCain mainly because she embodied a poorly-made and immensely superficial decision on behalf of his campaign, rather than the idea that she single-handedly wrecked McCain's chances with her inexperience being isolated from the rest of his strategy. After all, it's not like she fired a gun into the Alaskan air and shouted "Hey McCain, I think whatcha really need is a pitbulll in lipstick!" and then winked in Arizona's direction, her messenger hawks already headed to nab McCain in their talons.
Though I was excited and proud and happy for the event, I actually wasn't too crazy about Obama's victory speech, or at least not its delivery. His steadiness that I normally find so attractive seemed uneccessarily constant throughout the speech, so that he talked about the future of America and promised his kids a puppy all in the same official tone. I prefer when he trows a little Fred Sanford into it, though okay, I guess an election victory speech wouldn't be the most appropriate occassion for that. OR WOULD IT...?
In summary, I was and am so proud of my country for not voting from fear. During the campaigns, whenever I heard someone use a political scare tactic and I found myself in a moment of doubt, I reaffirmed to myself that I refused to vote from fear. And then to find that the whole nation voted for hope over fear... Well, shoot. America, I love you more. And Ohio! Oh baby, you got the blues and I love it. I was, as I mentioned before, the only one in my familial circle really for Obama, and it felt so good to find that I hadn't been alone in my hope, that beyond my family and the livejournal names, there were people I didn't know out there in the real world putting in a vote for Obama and what they believed in. Reading over your reactions to the idea of "President-elect Barack Obama" in the following days was wonderful. Everyone who wrote about the election was some degree of happy, with quite a few of you crying from joy and pride and relief. The following Wednesday I ventured out on my own and every time I passed an Obama or McCain support sign on a lawn, I was reminded of what had happened the day before and joy spread over my face in a grin. I'm not interested in gloating over the McCain-ers nor the "Obama is a radical Muslim" camp. That's not what I feel. What I really care about is that hope triumphed, and that now Obama's detractors will discover that the world will not end because of his presidency and that they need not be afraid.
Today I went to a Bath & Body Works to smell their holiday candles and a clerk greeted me by saying that it feels like the holidays now with the cold weather. I said that commercials and retail stores have been making me think it's the holidays before it actually is, and she said that their store was pretty good because K-Mart had Christmas trees up weeks ago, and I concurred and said that Kohl's had Christmas displays up at the end of September. But then the clerk, who was middle-aged and the more extroverted type, said that people seem to be in the holiday mood, like there's something going on what with a new president and everything. Then she added, touching my arm and laughing "not to tell you everything about my church," but that the sermon at her church last Sunday was all about change, and that people just seem to be happier. I said that people are in a celebratory mood and she was like, "That's it!" And I realized, there is the normal relief that follows the uncertainty of an election year but there is so much more than usual to what happened this year, and that positive aftermath of good feeling isn't going away any time soon. The idea that it will carry over into the holidays, whether people may be aware of it or not, pleases me to no end. I think this calls for a :D