My thoughts on the election: for posterity
I've been thinking about this for a few days now, and I've gotta get it out of my system before I start working on this damn paper.
So basically I feel like Obama winning and the Democrats gaining control of Congress (the Senate AND the House???) Is like the Mets winning the World Series. I think Beth is probably one of the only people potentially reading this (god knows if she will) who can understand the feeling (the rest of you are dirty dirty Yankee fans or don't care about NY sports teams), but anyway that's how I feel about it. Sort of.
I guess the real point is that for my entire politically aware life Republicans have been in control. My first and only real memory of the Clinton administration is watching all that Lewinsky crap unfold on TV. Besides, he had a Republican Congress to deal with anyway. So I've grown up in a household of "Republicans: evil, Democrats: kind of okay but more importantly Republicans: EVIL". Not that I necessarily believe this to be true, mind you (don't get me started on the political parties in this country) but it's been pretty ingrained in my psyche anyway. I was also pretty convinced that for the rest of my life this country would be under the Republican boot and that I would constantly have to protest and suffer because of this. So having Obama win and Congress be Democrat has actually lifted a huge weight that I didn't even really know existed, and it's incredibly surreal (not in the sense of the surrealist movement, you silly people! Obama's head is not a giant egg or something.)
The problem really, is that if I step back and think about it, I'm too pessimistic to think that anything will change. I don't have the sense of doom that I used to have, but I mean really, now the Democrats and Obama have to live up to all of the hype. They have to prove that they can actually do better, instead of just talking about it. I honestly don't have that much faith in politicians, or even in the Democratic party, which for a while now has been divided and somewhat spineless. Hopefully Obama can lead the party to a more effective place that will help this country, but honestly? He's only one man. An inspirational, intelligent, respected man (his mere election has greatly improved America's world standing) but still, just a man. What if it turns out that all the king's horses and all the king's men can't put this country back together again?
I guess I'm being pessimistic, and I'm sorry for it, pero asi es la Danielle.
In other news, for those of you who have met my father you know he's kind of nuts. Those of you who haven't may also know this. I love this city and I love being here right now, and I'm terrified by how my time is running out, but all the same, I've been having some problems. Very problematic problems. The point is that last night my father decided he was going to buy a plane ticket and fly to Buenos Aires today because of the issues I'd been having. I managed to convince him not to do this, since it's kind of ridiculous and expensive and he'd only be here for four days or so. As I said, he is kind of nuts. Kind of really nuts. In a sweet way. So...honey glazed nuts, perhaps. O algo como asi.
So basically I feel like Obama winning and the Democrats gaining control of Congress (the Senate AND the House???) Is like the Mets winning the World Series. I think Beth is probably one of the only people potentially reading this (god knows if she will) who can understand the feeling (the rest of you are dirty dirty Yankee fans or don't care about NY sports teams), but anyway that's how I feel about it. Sort of.
I guess the real point is that for my entire politically aware life Republicans have been in control. My first and only real memory of the Clinton administration is watching all that Lewinsky crap unfold on TV. Besides, he had a Republican Congress to deal with anyway. So I've grown up in a household of "Republicans: evil, Democrats: kind of okay but more importantly Republicans: EVIL". Not that I necessarily believe this to be true, mind you (don't get me started on the political parties in this country) but it's been pretty ingrained in my psyche anyway. I was also pretty convinced that for the rest of my life this country would be under the Republican boot and that I would constantly have to protest and suffer because of this. So having Obama win and Congress be Democrat has actually lifted a huge weight that I didn't even really know existed, and it's incredibly surreal (not in the sense of the surrealist movement, you silly people! Obama's head is not a giant egg or something.)
The problem really, is that if I step back and think about it, I'm too pessimistic to think that anything will change. I don't have the sense of doom that I used to have, but I mean really, now the Democrats and Obama have to live up to all of the hype. They have to prove that they can actually do better, instead of just talking about it. I honestly don't have that much faith in politicians, or even in the Democratic party, which for a while now has been divided and somewhat spineless. Hopefully Obama can lead the party to a more effective place that will help this country, but honestly? He's only one man. An inspirational, intelligent, respected man (his mere election has greatly improved America's world standing) but still, just a man. What if it turns out that all the king's horses and all the king's men can't put this country back together again?
I guess I'm being pessimistic, and I'm sorry for it, pero asi es la Danielle.
In other news, for those of you who have met my father you know he's kind of nuts. Those of you who haven't may also know this. I love this city and I love being here right now, and I'm terrified by how my time is running out, but all the same, I've been having some problems. Very problematic problems. The point is that last night my father decided he was going to buy a plane ticket and fly to Buenos Aires today because of the issues I'd been having. I managed to convince him not to do this, since it's kind of ridiculous and expensive and he'd only be here for four days or so. As I said, he is kind of nuts. Kind of really nuts. In a sweet way. So...honey glazed nuts, perhaps. O algo como asi.