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Obama Wins, Obama Wins, Holy Cow!
Of course, I did end up watching the election returns after all. We turned on the TV at nine o'clock and clicked back and forth among our various and sundry local channels (we've got our new digital receiver thingy, don't you know, so it's not all-snow-all-the-time anymore), waiting for those electoral vote numbers to update. And they didn't change and didn't change until suddenly, at ten, came the announcement that Obama will be our next president.
Wow. Just, wow. I'm incredibly happy about that, but I'm still waiting for it to sink in. It still doesn't feel quite real, but then, neither have the last eight years. ("Seriously? W's president? We're in all these huge messes at home and overseas? You mean that wasn't just a bad dream?")
This was my fourth presidential election, and never before did the choice seem so stark between hope and fear, between progression and stagnation, between unity and division, between something-new and same-old-crap. McCain said it well in his concession speech: "The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly." We get a lot of things wrong, but never have I been so sure that we got something right.
The crowds in Grant Park were stunning, but I was very glad to be cozy at home. I scanned the faces for my brother and some other friends who were were down there, but I didn't see them. The one time I said, "Hey, is that my brother?", Joe informed me they'd just cut to McCain's Arizona event. Oops. Not so much.
One of the greatest things about the election, for me on a personal level? Looking at Facebook and LJ and Google Reader this morning and seeing the universal joy of my friends across the country, as they updated their statuses to reflect their euphoria at the outcome of the presidential race.
I'm not universally happy. I'm concerned about various local decisions that have yet to be sorted out, notably California's Prop 8. And I know Obama getting elected is not a magical fix for what ails us. But as in Alcoholics Anonymous, I believe the first step is admitting you have a problem. And in electing Obama, America has admitted it has a problem and is ready to work to make it better.
ETA, 11/5/08:
Here's a smile-maker: the dozens of elementary school kids in the school yard across the street chanting, at the tops of their lungs, "Gobama! Gobama! Gobama!" No surprise, really. Chicago's been ready to elect Obama president for years.
I feel a lot like Sars over at Tomato Nation: "I can't describe the feeling; I can't believe it's true. I barely remember what it's like to feel like the country's leadership cares about me or anything I believe in, or to think the guy I voted for isn't just the lesser of two evils." (http://tomatonation.com/?p=2794)
This is my fourth election too, and it's honestly the first one whose results I feel GOOD about, rather than resigned or depressed.
Mr. Lush was at the Bob Dylan show election night, and apparently that was an awesome experience--the final song played over "Obama wins!" broadcast on the jumb-o-tron screen. (I was at work, and it was a sloooow evening.)
That's a great quote.
I was musing that how I *don't* feel right now is a better gauge of the election's outcome than how I *do* feel. I'm not a person who gets excited easily, so I'm not doing the happy dance or anything like a lot of people. But if the outcome had been different—if McCain/Palin *had* won? I'd be physically ill with dread and despair.
So I'm embracing this feeling of calm, cautious optimism. It signifies something so incredibly better than the alternative.
Yes. That's it exactly.
Can this strange feeling possibly be...hope? Hope for the future, rather than dread and embarrassment?
On a somewhat cynical, although still amusing and relevant, note: http://www.theonion.com/content/news/nation_finally_shitty_enough_to
Heh, I love the Onion. Thanks.