O²
There was a part of me, no lie, which felt this Sword Of Damocles hanging over Obama's first term. I was pleased with the leadership, but felt it came about mostly because it followed GW Bush's disastrous presidency, that we were so hungry for a change that voters would take just about anything. But we're a capricious lot, and as this has been a ragged economy, I had a lingering fear that the administration would be unplugged just as it was getting started. But what's happened has been much more significant than Obama getting a second term against an uncharismatic opponent; Maryland and Maine join the roster of states with legal gay marriage. Minnesota refuses to cut into its constitution for an anti-gay amendment. Colorado gives recreational pot a go. A skeevy Iowa man by the name of Bob Vander Plaats, head of the local White Taliban, tries to rally a movement funded by outside monies and endorsed by the odious Rick Santorum, with the aim of ousting judges from the Iowa Supreme Court for not making gay marriage illegal, and he is rejected. And in a time of economic leanness, a $50M provision to improve Iowa waterways breezes through across party lines, because it's a good idea. It was then that I realized that this isn't some fleeting fluke- the recurring themes of inclusion and progression are driving out the pernicious elements, the ones which seek and hold power through cynicism and fearmongering and coddling poisonous interests, it's just slipping away. The next GOP candidate will have to crawl up on land and learn to walk upright if the party intends to stay relevant, and that gives me a warm feeling right down to my bones.