Post Election
Nov. 5th, 2008 08:41![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mapsedgeOf course I have thoughts about the election. Do I want to write about them? Not really, no. For my own future reference, though, I ought to.
History making? Of course. Am I relieved? More than I expected I would be. The republicans - led by Dubya - and the "Christian" Right have trod on this country's freedoms in a my-way-or-the-hiway power-grab. We have been told what to be afraid of, and who we should hate because of it, for eight years. That is finally over.
Last night, I watched the campaign figurehead of that divisive group concede to a crowd of 3000.
Last night I watched a brown-skinned man1, a relative newcomer on the political stage, begin the process of unification and hope-bringing, to a crowd of over 100,000. His speech was moving and, I believe, honest.2 The speech was sober, with none of the self-congratulation he would have been fully entitled to. He reached out, made it about this country, and I am guardedly hopeful that once again I can be proud to be an American.
Cynically, I almost hoped to hear a news story about Dubya lying on the floor of the Oval Office, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The republicans and radical right took a huge hit last night, and I am glad of it. Take your theocracy and shove it, Mr. Bush, it ain't workin' here no more.
1 Katie calls him "the tan man", because of his mixed-race parentage.
2 On a lighter note it took me forever to figure out where his teleprompters were.
History making? Of course. Am I relieved? More than I expected I would be. The republicans - led by Dubya - and the "Christian" Right have trod on this country's freedoms in a my-way-or-the-hiway power-grab. We have been told what to be afraid of, and who we should hate because of it, for eight years. That is finally over.
Last night, I watched the campaign figurehead of that divisive group concede to a crowd of 3000.
Last night I watched a brown-skinned man1, a relative newcomer on the political stage, begin the process of unification and hope-bringing, to a crowd of over 100,000. His speech was moving and, I believe, honest.2 The speech was sober, with none of the self-congratulation he would have been fully entitled to. He reached out, made it about this country, and I am guardedly hopeful that once again I can be proud to be an American.
Cynically, I almost hoped to hear a news story about Dubya lying on the floor of the Oval Office, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The republicans and radical right took a huge hit last night, and I am glad of it. Take your theocracy and shove it, Mr. Bush, it ain't workin' here no more.
1 Katie calls him "the tan man", because of his mixed-race parentage.
2 On a lighter note it took me forever to figure out where his teleprompters were.
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Re: Afraid to be optimistic
Date: 2008-11-05 19:39 (UTC)I'm more worried about violence done to his children, wife or mother-in-law. They are more vulnerable than he is, and the soul-wound he would suffer should any of them be injured, or, heaven forbid, killed, would quite probably be more incapacitating for him than serious injury done to him.
I said to a co-worker who has been a supporter on the much longer term than I that now the hard work begins for him and for us all. My co-worker didn't get it. Those who don't understand it are going to be among the very first to criticize and rebuke him when he tries to lead us to it. (I work in healthcare, and the Bush Administration has been churning out new regulations that strip old regulations of teeth since July. It may take years to figure out how to undo the damage that has been done to worker, consumer & environmental protections just in the last 4 months, let alone the last 8 years.)