This just in: the American market for Canada T-shirts has crashed
We, as a country, did it. After eight years of a president who (I thankfully never voted for, but short-shortsightedly supported at one time or another) has disrespected foreign allies, mishandled one war and then forced us into a completely unjust one on false pretenses, destroyed civil liberties in the name of security, retarded the growth of science and technological development, polluted our planet, destroyed our economy with rampant deregulation, pandered to extremist social conservatives, and ultimately treated the U.S. Constitution like toilet paper, we finally will be moving in a different direction.
Any direction from the one we're heading in is a good one. The world, as a whole, is unstable right now. I was listening to someone on the BBC examine the crisis and compare it to the 1930's. He explained that almost all countries fell to either one side or the other, politically. Germany, Italy, Japan- they fell to the extreme right. The United States and much of Western Europe, to the left. He argued that if the United States hadn't fallen to the left, that the outcome of WW2 would likely have been far different, and he said that he hoped for an Obama victory. I obviously hope it doesn't come to that, but if the world collapses like it did back then, we can maybe breathe a LITTLE easier now.
I noticed great fissures in demographics during this election- here's my qualitative analysis: First, the easy one- 100% of democrats I know voted as expected. However, the ones under 30 were very passionate, as they should have been, and I think that really boosted the turnout. Most republicans our age that I know voted for Obama, with the exception of almost all UGA grads. Interesting. Any republican over the age of, oh, say about 30 voted for McCain/Palin, hands down. Anyone over the age of 50 that was republican mentioned to me at one point or another that Obama was either a Muslim, socialist, black panther, alien, warewolf, bigfoot, nessie etc., but now post-election have downgraded this to just "he scares me!" without ever explaining it. But what I found most fascinating were the republicans that were on the fence. And I know almost all of them went for Obama for ONE REASON: Palin. She's bonkers. There's no escaping it. Whenever they were posed the question: "If McCain dies in office, would you feel comfortable with Sarah Palin having access to the nuclear launch codes?" The answer was almost always several seconds of silence. And then something along the lines of "well crap."
But what has been most interesting and uncomfortable to watch is how they've handled the loss. I had one said person (who clearly didn't know me too well) greet me on Wednesday with "Welcome to the Obama Nation!!", to which I was surprised and happy for a short while until he said "Can you believe that a black man is in the white house? I mean, it's the white house- am I right?" I had to count to ten in my head, and then when I reached ten I just told myself to not say anything. It was a very uncomfortable elevator ride, with several moments of silence. Eventually I just said "I was very impressed with the turnout". And at that moment, I was never more glad to see a Obama elected. He did not run as a black man- after all, he's mixed race, which I'm surprised that most people aren't catching on to or at least commenting on. He's the mix of two of the largest population groups, racially, in this country. If it's not significant historically, I think it's at least pretty neat. But regardless, he did not run based on his race, which is where all other minority candidates have faltered. And our country still has a way to go- we all know that a good number of black people voted for him because of the color of his skin- the same reason why a ton of white people voted against him. This needs to change, and I believe Obama is the first step (back) towards this direction. Thankfully, I believe that the vast majority of his votes were from people who didn't even consider his race in their vote, which is the way it obviously needs to be.
What I'm most thrilled about is the hopeful return of science to this country. Over the past eight years, we watched the Large Hadron Collider go online this year in Europe when we all know damn well that it should have been in the USA, we watched Bush fight groundbreaking medical technology, such as stem-cell research, during his entire presidency, and we've seen a steady decline in math and science performance in our schools. With Obama's clear respect and understanding of the benefits of science, math, and technology, I hope that he can turn it all around.
Overall, I think it's pretty obvious that I'm pleased. I never thought that a presidential election result could yield not only an intense amount of domestic celebration, but worldwide. The pictures and video from all over the globe were incredible. His administration has inherited an incredible mess, but I am confident that if anyone can pull it off, he can. I'm also hopeful that the Republican party could split (between social conservatives and social liberals), or at least reform. As a registered republican and self proclaimed moderate, I still believe that one party having too much power is bad for everyone.
Here's to our new president-elect, and a hopeful future.