Yes. We. Did.
Nov 5th, 2008 by mark
This morning when I sat down to eat my breakfast I had to wake up the computer and refresh CNN and the New York Times, and FiveThirtyEight.com, just to make sure that what we experienced last night wasn’t a dream, that it wasn’t somehow a mistake that had been corrected overnight.
It’s not a mistake. And it wasn’t only a dream. It is a dream come true. America has a new President-Elect and a new direction, a direction toward hope, and change, and inclusion.
Eight years ago I was among those who were shocked, and then dismayed, and finally angered by the results of the election. Four years ago I was resigned and apathetic, it seemed that American’s wanted the rude, divisive, exclusionary vision that George W. Bush and the Republican party presented. For the past 20 months I have held deep inside myself a tiny lit candle called hope. For the past two months I have lived and breathed the polls and endorsements, the debates and speeches, and tried not to let my candle be blown out.
Yesterday morning I was proud and excited to cast my ballot. I felt like I was truly participating in something momentous. I believed that Senator Barack Obama would win the day, and that America would wake up today at the start of a new era. I hoped that it would be so.
I have always been proud to be an American, and I consider myself to be patriotic. However, I have been ashamed of my country’s policies and actions at home and abroad for several years now. I couldn’t, and still don’t, understand the need to substitute belligerence for intelligence, to replace compassion with disdain, to replace open democracy with secrecy, jingoism, fear, and anger. I was fearful that the character assassinations would stick, that the “power of nightmares” approach that had brought the Republicans to power would keep them there another four years.
That we have a new President-Elect this morning, who is the very antithesis of past eight years of abuse, gluttony, and venality, lifts my heart and gives me hope. The tiny candle I’ve been carrying for two years is now part of a large flame.
I am proud to have voted for Barack Obama, and prouder still that he will be the 44th President of the United States of America.
Congratulations on your win. While you and I disagree in almost every way politically, I feel that I should be respectful nonetheless.
Only time will tell if President-Elect Obama will be an effective governor of our nation. As an American, I certainly hope that he is. Although I still have serious reservations about him for many different reasons, I am willing to give him a chance.
But he must deliver on his promises, and his administration must not act in an ultra-partisan manner if he is to earn my support. The selection of Rahm Emanuel isn’t a good first step if we really are to move away from partisan politics as Obama has promised. Described by many in his own party as a sharp-tongued and sharp-elbowed partisan politician, he is a very peculiar choice. After all, this is a guy who once mailed a dead fish to a political foe. Not the cleanest of characters to be sure.
Obama’s eloquent words will be inconsequential if his actions don’t produce results. And I also hope that with honest reflection, many Democrats will come to realize the utmost disrespect that has been shown to President Bush over the last eight years. As Americans, we should be better than that. Does he deserve criticism? Certainly. Does he deserve the brutal disrespect that has been displayed? Certainly not.
Conservatives, including myself, have been labeled everything from neo-cons to right wing nuts by our counterparts across the political aisle. That is extremely offensive to me and demonstrates a lack of attempt to understand what good conservatism (which includes fiscal conservatism, something this country desperately needs) is all about, not the right-wing fringes of it (which do exist and are very bad, just as the left-wing fringes are).
And, yes, it goes both ways. The same things have been said of liberals. But when I hear people say things like Bush staged the 9/11 attacks, it displays a level of complete ignorance and stupidity that is hard for me to take seriously.
Hopefully we can all be civil in our political discourse from this point forward. And we must keep in mind that we have a Congress that has even lower approval rating than President Bush, so we can’t say that he must shoulder all the blame. I think both sides have more in common than we don’t. We all need to start acting like it.