I'm not just asking rhetorically here. The first election I was politically conscious for was 1992, and while Clinton had his own throaty choke-ups, I don't recall the same from his supporters. (I remember 1988 too, but wasn't quite reading the newspaper yet...)
I alternate between giddy optimism and a deep, deep fear for Obama. The more invincible his lead becomes, the more some crazy winger will want to, well, vince him. Here's a toast to his Secret Service for keeping him well.
13 comments:
I agree... seeing those crowds in Missouri last week was unreal. I have (shhhhh) hope! But yes, we'll need a separate special forces team to keep him alive.
People are crying because they have finally realized that "all politicians are terrible" and "both parties are beholden to special interests" is just cover for the fact that one political party is beholden to moral and intellectual degenerates, and that party has destroyed everything in the world that normal decent people hold dear for themselves, their friends, and their families. And normal decent Americans want that to end.
However, the idea that President Obama is going to have unicorns and rainbows shooting out of his ass is unrealistic in the extreme. Because of the depredations of the Republican Party, the entire world is *very* fucked up, and it is going to take a long time and a lot of global effort to clean up the mess those deranged sick fucks have made.
Comrade PP,
Agreed.
But the point here is that without the hope and optimism that things can be improved, they surely won't get better. Skepticism and cynicism don't change anything by themselves. Also, unicorns and rainbows aren't gonna shoot out of some random (or prophesied) messiah's ass to make things better either. People have to take some measure of control of the govt, and then work to better their condition. And that begins with the promise of something better and the hope that someone, somewhere high up in the power chain might actually listen and help. That is what Obama brings, and it is fucking invaluable.
Anon---In a supposedly deep-red state like Indiana, last week 36000 people turned up to hear Obama---in the middle of the work-day and work-week, on 2 days' notice. He is connecting brilliantly and for that reason alone holds incredible promise.
Dr.J--I share your worry/fear more than I care to admit.
CPP, I'm thinking that if Malia and Sasha are in the White House, they might at least be able to change the Presidential stationery to include rainbows and unicorns.
And though it's true that racism and urban poverty etc aren't going to end overnight if Obama's in charge, still--the pictures from that Richmond rally of African-American dads carrying their daughters on their shoulders to glimpse the first plausible black candidate for President? I don't think it's naive to hope that some of those kids will have bigger dreams than their parents were encouraged to.
We're driving to a swing state next weekend for GOTV. The polls are great but we need to close this thing.
We're driving to a swing state next weekend for GOTV
You go Dr. J! We're working hard out here in AZ and if the polls are right we've got a chance. Never mind CPP, he's still mad that Hillary isn't the nominee...
---"The polls are great but we need to close this thing"---
Could not be more correct.
I'll just have y'all know that if we bring freaking Indiana into the Obama fold, I'm claiming 'biggest badass' status.
I can't believe how ridiculously close we are---you should see the early voting lines (consistent 2 hr backups) in this bumfuck corner of the world.
BTW, I'm trying to work it such that I'll be volunteering to drive people to the polls all of Nov 4th---and for a few hours some days prior. We gotta close this deal.
I don't know where you get the idea that I preferred Clinton over Obama. I didn't even vote in the Dem primary. By the time my state's primary rolled around only Clinton and Obama were viable, and I didn't prefer one over the other. I actually preferred Edwards over either of them.
Indiana would ROCK, Anonymoustache. The GOP would faint. And I believe we get to find out early if we have a chance there, right, b/c polls close at 6p eastern? Best of luck.
AZ would kick even more ass, JP, and though I don't think it's going to flip, everything you can do to make it even with 10 or 15 points would serve to help humiliate McCain.
Meanwhile, if Nevada goes blue, you will have me to thank. Oh and Dr Hyde. We drove to Albuquerque in 04, but lost the state anyhow...
Edwards! Man, it's like that was years ago, this election's been going on so long. My sister-in-law was also leaning Edwards but he'd been eliminated by her primary also and I helped her come around to Obama.
Edwards remains a bit of a mystery figure to me. He was saying all the right things. He seemed like he really cared. And yet he could never pull it together. That, and of course the eventual mistress revelations. He was a letdown--would have liked to see him become a significant working class advocate, perhaps a SCOTUS nominee. But no dice.
It's very disturbing that an extramarital affair has ruined the political career of Edwards, yet right-wing scumbags like Larry Craig, John McCain, and that Louisiana sleazeball cheat on their wives with impunity.
I wouldn't call it impunity. The McCain transgression is so far in the past that it just doesn't feel as relevant by now (I'm not apologizing for it--he did a shitty thing--but I don't think it carries as much weight today). And at the time, my understanding is that he did get shafted for it--Nancy Reagan is reported to have cut him dead.
What's bothersome is that the Republicans have managed to "brand" themselves as the party of social rectitude, and so they've done a better job at sticking the adulterous Dems than we've done of sticking the adulterous GOP. Clinton gets a blowjob--impeachment. Newt is banging his Senate aide at the same time--nobody cares.
I'm of two minds about how much adultery and other private transgressions should matter. Part of the problem is that every marriage is different. Clinton's transgressions seemed to reveal more about his legendary failures at self-control than about disrespect for his wife. Seeing them together it was always abundantly clear to me that he respected Hillary up the wazoo. Just couldn't keep his prick in his pants. They acknowledged that they had "struggled" in their marriage.
Edwards set himself up as the somewhat saintly husband to a cancerous wife. That's why he's toast.
I am surprised that Craig wasn't forced to resign. I assume he'll get the boot whenever his Senate cycle comes up, but it is remarkable that his constituency didn't try to take him out earlier.
Sometimes I wish we could leave the personal out of it. It's not about policy, so who cares? Other times, I think it reflects on a person's moral center, and is important.
The problem is that this sort of ambiguity doesn't carry the same firebrand SHAME message that the Republicans are willing to carry, regardless of hypocrisy. Acknowledging internal conflict--hasn't been popular of late. I am somewhat optimistic (but not a lot) that Obama's willingness to address all sides of a problem will improve things.
That, and our filibuster-proof majority.
@DJMH, correction of course Newt was banging his House aide.
Back to the original point of your post, we early voted last Sunday and we took PharmKid with us for the historic event. I had to stop for a moment to just acknowledge the gravity of the moment of simply seeing Obama's name on the ballot. Definite shivers up the spine when filling in the oval. As I've said elsewhere, about 80% our precinct staff in this usually red state were African American so we think our votes have a really good chance of actually being tabulated. fivethirtyeight.com currently gives us a 66% probability of going Obama.
PharmKid is hoping that Malia and Sasha have the Jonas Brothers for inauguration - uh, we're still working on the music thing.
Thanks for all of your hard work in your neck of the woods!
AbelP, yours is a very exciting state to watch. The prospect of it turning blue--or even of giving a good run for the money--is just astounding, and encouraging.
Did you see Michelle talking about the nomination? When she had the girls with her, and she said to them that there was going to be a special guest, Malia looks up eagerly and says, "Jonas Brothers?" [at 0:58 in video] (of course Michelle meant Barack beamed in on video, but Malia didn't seem too disappointed.) It's super adorbs.
Post a Comment