Election Jitters
For the first time, I am actually excited about an election. By the time I was old enough to vote I was already jaded, feeling politician was just a fancy word for slime and that ultimately it didn’t matter. Voting, weather Senate, House, President or state, was just an exercise in choosing the lesser of two evils. The one time that I felt it mattered, that I really had a personal stake in who won was the Gore/Bush elections. I didn’t know a lot about Al Gore except that he was strong on the environment, which is important to me, and he wasn’t Bush. I knew, even back then, that I didn’t want Bush in the White House. That fiasco made me rather bitter and the next years showed me that I REALLY didn’t want Bush in the White House. The next Presidential election all I cared about was voting for whoever was NOT BUSH.
I always wanted a candidate that I could say that I knew with some certainty what his or her stands were on issues that I cared about. Mud flinging, finger pointing, tearing down your oponate, tricks, and lies just disgusted me, but I had gotten used to that being the standard campaigning protocol. Vote for me because the other guy sucks. Unexpectedly, there is a candidate that is clear about his stand on certain issues, who answers the questions posed him without all the obfuscation, who is intelligent and makes sense and who I agree with on a lot of points. He stays cool under pressure and does not lower himself to the school yard taunting, instead he laughs it off as the ridiculous, juvenile thing it is. Filkertom has been posting a lot of election related links and the more I see of Obama, the more I like.
He is human, he makes mistakes and I’m sure he has his flaws, but for the first time I actually have a candidate that I support rather than a candidate that I vote for because he is the better option.
At the college where I’m working we have a table set up giving out donuts and juice with banners and balloons telling the kids to go vote. A computer is set up, running CNN’s election coverage and we have extra newspapers to give away. Our assistant director is very excited about the election and is talking to the kids telling them to go vote and giving them reasons why. After overhearing some kids say they didn’t know where to go or wondering if they could just show up anywhere, I made up fliers telling them exactly how to find out where they need to go to vote.
I should be doing homework, but I am so excited and nervous I just can’t concentrate. For a long time, I have not liked the direction this country has been moving in but I felt that it was too late and nothing would change. For the first time I have hope that it is not too late, that maybe we can repair some of the damage.
No matter what happens this is going to be one of those days to remember.