Election Notes
By the way, I'm really pissed off about the regressive anti-gay measures that got passed in several states, but I'm quite pleased about the results of the election, and while I am not under the illusion that Obama is going to fix everything and usher in a new age of peace and equality, I am at least feeling something I thought I'd lost: hope for my country's future.
He has not earned my trust. No politician has that for the asking. Very few even manage to earn it. In fact, none ever has. But Obama apparently understands that he must work for my trust, and I'm willing to give him that chance because I believe that he has a different vision for our future, one closer to my own. And however I may feel about some of his policies, however I may feel about how he got the nomination, I cannot feel sorry that we will have a black man in the white house. I cannot overlook what that means. I can't look back at our history and say that my vote to put a black politician into a house that black slaves built was meaningless. America has lost faith in herself, and I don't think we will survive if it is not restored. McCain did not offer that potential, and I think that Obama does.
And I can't overlook the fact that Sarah Palin is going away, back to Alaska and her view of Russia, back to chewing on wolf femurs or whatever it is she does in her spare time, back to some form of political obscurity. I wish her well, I suppose, now that she's not a threat, but I will feel much safer knowing that she's not near the White House. I believe that McCain is ill, gravely so. I believe that he stood a good chance of dying in office. She would have been too close for comfort. And I can't say I would feel comfortable being led by a man who would choose such a poor running mate. I absolutely did not feel I could trust his judgment after that.
This is not a perfect world, it was not a perfect election, there were no perfect candidates. Perfect is a myth. The real work of making a better world is not Obama's to do, it is ours. I just have hope - there's that word again - that making a better world will be easier for us with him at the wheel than it would have been with McCain.
If we keep working, keep building, we will have gay marriages nationwide someday, and I have begun to think I'll see that done in my lifetime. If we keep working, keep building, we can repair the damage done to women through erosion of our reproductive options, and I have begun to think I'll see that made strong again in my lifetime, too. If we keep working, keep building, we will have a woman in the White House, and I'm certain I will live to see that.
So, in case anyone feels like arguing in comments, no, I'm not inclined to debate politics, or what this means, or what may come of it. I think, given the choices available on Tuesday, we chose as best we could, and that choice is one with a lot of significance to a lot of people. It is meaningful to people in a way that politics seldom is, and it is meaningful especially to people who thought they didn't have a voice. I think we should respect that.
Hope is what we need, because without it we don't have a star to steer by. I feel it again, and I know I am not alone.
He has not earned my trust. No politician has that for the asking. Very few even manage to earn it. In fact, none ever has. But Obama apparently understands that he must work for my trust, and I'm willing to give him that chance because I believe that he has a different vision for our future, one closer to my own. And however I may feel about some of his policies, however I may feel about how he got the nomination, I cannot feel sorry that we will have a black man in the white house. I cannot overlook what that means. I can't look back at our history and say that my vote to put a black politician into a house that black slaves built was meaningless. America has lost faith in herself, and I don't think we will survive if it is not restored. McCain did not offer that potential, and I think that Obama does.
And I can't overlook the fact that Sarah Palin is going away, back to Alaska and her view of Russia, back to chewing on wolf femurs or whatever it is she does in her spare time, back to some form of political obscurity. I wish her well, I suppose, now that she's not a threat, but I will feel much safer knowing that she's not near the White House. I believe that McCain is ill, gravely so. I believe that he stood a good chance of dying in office. She would have been too close for comfort. And I can't say I would feel comfortable being led by a man who would choose such a poor running mate. I absolutely did not feel I could trust his judgment after that.
This is not a perfect world, it was not a perfect election, there were no perfect candidates. Perfect is a myth. The real work of making a better world is not Obama's to do, it is ours. I just have hope - there's that word again - that making a better world will be easier for us with him at the wheel than it would have been with McCain.
If we keep working, keep building, we will have gay marriages nationwide someday, and I have begun to think I'll see that done in my lifetime. If we keep working, keep building, we can repair the damage done to women through erosion of our reproductive options, and I have begun to think I'll see that made strong again in my lifetime, too. If we keep working, keep building, we will have a woman in the White House, and I'm certain I will live to see that.
So, in case anyone feels like arguing in comments, no, I'm not inclined to debate politics, or what this means, or what may come of it. I think, given the choices available on Tuesday, we chose as best we could, and that choice is one with a lot of significance to a lot of people. It is meaningful to people in a way that politics seldom is, and it is meaningful especially to people who thought they didn't have a voice. I think we should respect that.
Hope is what we need, because without it we don't have a star to steer by. I feel it again, and I know I am not alone.