History
Seeing Jesse Jackson in Grant Park last night, with the tears rolling down his cheeks, was a fitting way for this extraordinary campaign/moment in United States history to come to some kind of fruition.
In my lifetime, there has never been an election day that felt so much like a celebration. I started smiling when Ohio was called and my shit eating grin just kept getting wider as the night went on, despite learning that creeps like McConnelland Chambliss were going to be going back to Washington.
It wasn't just that "my team won," there was a physical sense that we have rid ourselves of the worst "angels" of our nature, if only for a brief moment. I don't just mean that we have elected a man whose skin is dark and whose name is Barack Hussein Obama. That's surely a major part of it. But it's the overall sense that we, as a nation, have overcome not just our prejudices, our hatreds, and our fears, but also our tendencies to reject competency and intelligence. That the last eight years, which began with cynical lies about inventing the Internet and with butterfly ballots in Miami-Dade County, may finally be over.
Now, of course, comes the hard part. President Obama (can you fucking believe that?) will be faced with not just enormous challenges left by, if not the worst, then the most ridiculous president in our history, but with a fillibustering-capable Republican caucus that is not only still breathing but may also be even more reactionary in defeat than they were in ascendency. And by a still sizeable number of Americans whose hatred seemed stoked by Obama's success, embodied by the frightenly white male crowd at Sen. McCain's event in Phoenix last night. It looked like a Klan rally that had been bused in without the Senator's knowledge. He seemed, rightly, embarassed by it, but maybe that was my projecting.
I'm tired, and rambling, but I will say this: I'm looking at the front page of the New York Times right now, with that beautiful family on the front page, and like Jesse, the tears are rolling down.
UPDATE: Looks like Chambliss is heading to a runoff.
In my lifetime, there has never been an election day that felt so much like a celebration. I started smiling when Ohio was called and my shit eating grin just kept getting wider as the night went on, despite learning that creeps like McConnell
It wasn't just that "my team won," there was a physical sense that we have rid ourselves of the worst "angels" of our nature, if only for a brief moment. I don't just mean that we have elected a man whose skin is dark and whose name is Barack Hussein Obama. That's surely a major part of it. But it's the overall sense that we, as a nation, have overcome not just our prejudices, our hatreds, and our fears, but also our tendencies to reject competency and intelligence. That the last eight years, which began with cynical lies about inventing the Internet and with butterfly ballots in Miami-Dade County, may finally be over.
Now, of course, comes the hard part. President Obama (can you fucking believe that?) will be faced with not just enormous challenges left by, if not the worst, then the most ridiculous president in our history, but with a fillibustering-capable Republican caucus that is not only still breathing but may also be even more reactionary in defeat than they were in ascendency. And by a still sizeable number of Americans whose hatred seemed stoked by Obama's success, embodied by the frightenly white male crowd at Sen. McCain's event in Phoenix last night. It looked like a Klan rally that had been bused in without the Senator's knowledge. He seemed, rightly, embarassed by it, but maybe that was my projecting.
I'm tired, and rambling, but I will say this: I'm looking at the front page of the New York Times right now, with that beautiful family on the front page, and like Jesse, the tears are rolling down.
UPDATE: Looks like Chambliss is heading to a runoff.
Labels: Barack Obama
posted by John at 9:40 AM
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