Election 2008 (Or, What I've Been Doing for the Past Couple Days: Selected Links)
So, it's been a very good couple of days. I'm still grinning every time I hear the phrase "President-elect Obama." We're finally going to have a president who's smart, makes decisions we can agree with, and doesn't force us to pretend to be Canadian while traveling abroad. Our vice president will not make us cringe, and will in fact be pretty awesome himself.
And Obama won by a landslide, how wonderful is that? It's truly amazing that so many states that were firmly Republican four years ago not only became swing states, but ended up going for Obama. I've been having way too much fun playing around with election results maps like this one. It gets really interesting when you click on the "county leaders" and "county bubbles" options, for both the presidential and the Senate races. I also particularly like the map of House Representative districts.
More good news: Jeff Merkley for U.S. Senate, hurray! Those of you who don't live in Oregon probably only care in the sense that he adds to the Democrat majority, but I spent yesterday obsessively following the numbers in the extremely close race. This election was a very good one for Oregon Democrats, overall, and I'm thrilled to see this state becoming more and more blue. Or, as one rather brilliant political satire blog says, Oregon is "overrun with wacky libtards, drinking their microbrews while riding unicorn-horned mountain bikes to their gay weddings every day, in the rain." For the record, I am quite pleased to live in Obama County.
Not-so-good news: Prop. 8. WTF, California? At least the sane people lost no time in filing a lawsuit to stop it. I'd also like to note that, while a lot of people may criticize Gavin Newsom and some of his political decisions, I think he's fantastic for bringing the whole issue out into the open and doing something about it. Plus, when asked about the effects of this election's losses on his long-term career, he said, "It's trivial and irrelevant... It was never about me, it's not about politicians. This is about people. This is about real human beings." I wish more politicians thought this way.
It's been great to see the left wing actually coming together for a change, getting itself organized and winning victories--case in point, how Obama won. And as we were saying at the dinner table tonight, it's about time the liberals ditched our reputation as ineffectual bleeding hearts and showed that we can fight for our beliefs just as hard as the conservatives. In the words of Oregon's new senator, "It's time to go change the world... Let's do it together."
One final thing: There are plenty of stories floating around about Obama's choices for his staff, but clearly the most important decision is what kind of puppy he'll get his daughters. Article has lots of interesting information on presidential pets, including George Washington's horse and Martin Van Buren's tiger cubs.
And Obama won by a landslide, how wonderful is that? It's truly amazing that so many states that were firmly Republican four years ago not only became swing states, but ended up going for Obama. I've been having way too much fun playing around with election results maps like this one. It gets really interesting when you click on the "county leaders" and "county bubbles" options, for both the presidential and the Senate races. I also particularly like the map of House Representative districts.
More good news: Jeff Merkley for U.S. Senate, hurray! Those of you who don't live in Oregon probably only care in the sense that he adds to the Democrat majority, but I spent yesterday obsessively following the numbers in the extremely close race. This election was a very good one for Oregon Democrats, overall, and I'm thrilled to see this state becoming more and more blue. Or, as one rather brilliant political satire blog says, Oregon is "overrun with wacky libtards, drinking their microbrews while riding unicorn-horned mountain bikes to their gay weddings every day, in the rain." For the record, I am quite pleased to live in Obama County.
Not-so-good news: Prop. 8. WTF, California? At least the sane people lost no time in filing a lawsuit to stop it. I'd also like to note that, while a lot of people may criticize Gavin Newsom and some of his political decisions, I think he's fantastic for bringing the whole issue out into the open and doing something about it. Plus, when asked about the effects of this election's losses on his long-term career, he said, "It's trivial and irrelevant... It was never about me, it's not about politicians. This is about people. This is about real human beings." I wish more politicians thought this way.
It's been great to see the left wing actually coming together for a change, getting itself organized and winning victories--case in point, how Obama won. And as we were saying at the dinner table tonight, it's about time the liberals ditched our reputation as ineffectual bleeding hearts and showed that we can fight for our beliefs just as hard as the conservatives. In the words of Oregon's new senator, "It's time to go change the world... Let's do it together."
One final thing: There are plenty of stories floating around about Obama's choices for his staff, but clearly the most important decision is what kind of puppy he'll get his daughters. Article has lots of interesting information on presidential pets, including George Washington's horse and Martin Van Buren's tiger cubs.