Have you let Obama into your heart?
During the presidential campaign I was on LJ hiatus, and I feel I should now go on the record as being an erstwhile Hillary supporter.
There, I said it.
When Sen. Obama showed up, I was like who the hell is this upstart trying to ruin our chance at a woman president? But I didn’t worry about him too much; after all, he was a virtual unknown, young, black, rumored to be a Muslim, and-did I mention black? Let’s face it (I lectured my friends), certain constituencies in our great (read: racist) nation would be highly motivated to fight against him, and if Obama won the primary, Dems were sure to lose the presidency. One thing conservatives have over liberals: they know how to organize in a serious way-give them a galvanizing factor like the prospect of a black president and you have McCain winning by a landslide.
As the primary battle leaned ever closer to Obama, I was actually threatening God with a McCain vote if Hill lost. God, in His infinite wisdom, called my bluff: Obama won the primary. I settled for wishing REALLY HARD for Clinton as Obama’s VP pick and decided that would be an acceptable compromise. Again God called my bluff. WTF? Biden? Are you serious? Now I was really angry, and when Palin first entered the scene my threats to vote Republican were the most sincere yet.
Enter stage right: Joe six-pack remarks. “Pallin’ around with terrorist” jokes. Russian sight-seeing in Alaska.
Political tail between my legs, I glumly agreed with God that I’d check this Obama guy out, not that it mattered since there was no WAY the bible-thumpers and bleeding-heart haters were going to let this happen.
I began listening to Obama. Guy and I watched every debate and picked apart every rhetorical flourish and half-truth (on both sides). SNL, John Stewart, and Colbert dominated the TV from August to November, and I don’t think our car radios ever turned from NPR. And a funny thing happened.
I fell in love with Barack Obama. I voted for him. He won. The sky opened and a white dove winged down to anoint our new leader. Okay, I made that up.
I have a CRUSH on this man. He is by no means perfect-Guy never misses a chance to point out his mistakes and failings-but DAMN he’s hot. And the way there is absolutely no flustering him… it gives me butterflies in my tummy.
Okay, I made that up, too. But it's true that I have an unhealthy respect for our President. I can tell I forgive him more than I should, and praise him when praise is less than due. To the same friends I once preached the dangers of pitting Obama against McCain I find myself now saying “I think I know how people felt about JFK.”
And now he’s nominated a Latina for the Supreme Court. I listened to him talk about respect for precedents and having more experience than anyone ever appointed before, and it was like he just blew me a kiss. Things are looking up!
Oh, yeah. And Secretary of State isn’t quite Vice President, but at least it’s a REAL job. J