We Finally Win One

The fifth presidential election of my voting life proved to be the charm. Granted, the first three votes I cast were never going to win (Paul Tsongas, my brother-in-law, Ralph Nader) but I was sure that the Shrub's mistakes would cost him the 2004 election. Unfortunately John Kerry had to be an überweiner and run a lousy campaign. That one really stung.

So it was with a jaded eye that I went to the Majestic (the old vaudeville theater) in downtown Madison to watch the election returns with like-minded citizens. They projected MSNBC onto a large screen and when my roommate, his girlfriend, another friend, his girlfriend, and I arrived, the anchors were pretty much just chattering as only a handful of states were called. We took our position near the back, got some drinks, and waited. Not many people were there, but slowly the crowd filled in.

As usual, we engaged in our sarcastic jokes and and whitless banter.

Then more results came in: Kentucky, New Jersey, Delaware. None of those were surprises. The surprise was the how close both Virginia and North Carolina were. I never suspected that North Carolina would ever go blue this election and of this writing it is still up in the air. Yet my roommate was sweating just the same. I knew how this election was going to end, but I couldn't quite sense it given the last few years.

Then Michigan went blue and the growing crowd cheered loudly at the news. While I was in line for a second round, the engineer brought down the music that was playing during the commercial break and put up the broadcast volume. The crowd went silent knowing that's when the talking heads called states. A face came on the screen and said "We have another state went for Obama ... Ohio. The dead silent crowd erupted. No Republican has ever been elected president without taking Ohio and its 20 electoral votes. That was the clincher for Obama and the death knell for McCain. Still, my lingering doubt was still napping on the sofa.

An hour later, when the West Coast polls closed, they called some state, maybe Colorado, for Obama, and then obligingly covered California in blue. We had elected Obama the 44th president of the United States. None of us in my group could quite believe it, even though the result was pretty clear for the past couple of weeks. The crowd went crazy and the cheer didn't die down for another half hour when McCain walked out to give his concession speech.

About half the crowd started booing. I yelled "SHUT UP!" as loudly as I could. The election was over. Even Grant let the soldiers of the Army of North Virginia keep their rifles, swords and horses after four bitter years of fighting. Now was the time to bury the hatchet and appreciate that democracy had worked once again. McCain gave a beautiful speech that made all of us recall the McCain of 2000 that each of us would have voted for had he made it out of the primaries. He was gracious and uplifting. It gave the feeling that maybe the old McCain would return as an elder statesman in the Senate, one that would be blessed to have him.

We waited a while for Obama to get to Grant Park for his victory speech. The screen showed images from around the country. One black woman was curled up in the fetal position crying, not believing the country whose Constitution once would have counted her as three-fifths of a person would elect an African-American as President. There were lots of cheering faces of all colors. The one that struck me the most was of a crying Jesse Jackson. Here is a man who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. for civil rights in 60's watching all he worked for bear fruit.

Barrack Obama's speech is one for the annals of the United States. He said all of the right things and he said them with sincerity. For the first time in my life, I not just felt, but actually sensed that the country was moving forward. I'm no idealist nor am I prone to fanciful thinking. I’m an optimist by nature, realist by nurture and pessimist by experience. It’s just feels like the world is new, like Christmas day when I was a kid. The anticipation is gone and the presents are open so I can just enjoy. I’m giving myself a couple of days of that before I let the reality back in.

Now if only that fucking Proposition 8 had gone down in flames....

Oh, sorry. Old habits die hard, if at all.

Wrong Choice

Ugh.... I ate a whole calzone from Deli Roma at lunch. It has just about burst open my gut. That's not very comfortable when you're driving four hours after work.

Thanks For Noticing, Mr. Obama!

Favorite Lyrics

Ever have that part of the song that you replay over and over because you like the lyrics so much? No! What!?! You're not obsessive/compulsive!?! Well, I'm sure you all have those lyrics that you love. Below are some of mine. I'm sure I'll add more over the next few days. If you put yours in the comment section, I'll add them with full credit.

Here they are:

"We went to a shopping mall and laughed at all the shoppers"
Punk Rock Girl
From Beezlebubba by The Dead Milkmen

"If Hitler were here today, you'd send a limousine anyway"
White Man in Hammersmith-Palais
A single by The Clash

R.I.P.

The American Empire
1945-2008



In the end, my country will be better off because of it. I think the absolutism and consumerism will temper, if only because of necessity.

Country Living

I've mentioned it to some before, but the only way I'd living outside of the city (never a suburb) is if I could have a goat. My father used to tell me stories of his uncle's old goat Clarence. I've found that goats have a lot of personality and guess what, they're useful, too!

Leaders of the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency hired 100 goats to nibble away thick weeds on a steep slope at the corner of 4th and Hill streets, next to the Angels Flight funicular.

Agency officials said the goats were cheaper and more environmentally friendly than two-legged brush-clearers armed with gasoline-powered weed-whackers.

Elections

The only part of my disjointed dream that I remember is holding onto my old iguana, Melvyn. There was some sort of grate with an opening in it. I put Melvyn into it and he almost fell into the lava in there. Thankfully he didn't because he was running for Prime Minister.