For the first time since John Fitzgerald Kennedy was elected President, I am proud of my country. Let the religious right wing nuts chew on that.
Posted by captain dan at November 8, 2008 08:16 AMbut I am still sad about election 2000 and what could have been, and profoundly heartsick at all the damage since.
We finally watched Recount last night. Perhaps it was the win that allowed us the ability to finally open that wound and let it bleed all over again.
Holy fuck.
There are so many "what ifs" when I think about 2000 and to consider the damage that would not have occurred, to consider what has happened to our country and our world and all of the millions of deaths - including deaths of entire species - that resulted from it - it is almost too much to bare.
I watched with keen interest the key assholes involved and wonder if there is a special place in hell for every single one of those fucks who participated in and enabled that theft of the 2000 election to occur.
I wonder if any of them lay awake at night, in guilt and shame, or if they laid awake in bed at night thinking of ways to assist in the theft this last election.
Obama saw it coming and studied the whole thing well. He pre-empted the bullshit legally and he anticipated where he needed so many votes that they could not steal it.
This election was not close. Their crap did not work because of that fact and that fact alone.
It is up to us to make sure that there is never again an election that close where the Right can steal it.
Posted by Anjha at November 8, 2008 08:23 AMAND, we have to make sure, during this Congress and with this President that we fix the voting machines and disenfranchisement and purging and other bullshit that the Right relies on.
We really do have a tremendous amount of work to do and a ton of legislation to get through in a very short time.
There is so much to clean up and so much to fix to make sure that we are never again in a position where the Right can fuck it up so bad again.
Posted by Anjha at November 8, 2008 08:25 AMWhat everybody said.
I will never, ever, ever get over the theft of 2k. Never.
Posted by Sharkbabe at November 8, 2008 08:52 AMI watched with keen interest the key assholes involved and wonder if there is a special place in hell for every single one of those fucks who participated in and enabled that theft of the 2000 election to occur.
Anjha, and they live for another day because we don't demand accountability.
The public has no desire to rehash 2000 and Congress won't go there but we don't need political accountability for the 2000 election (and 2004) for it to never happen again. We need historic accountability...the facts need to be laid out...and we need reform. We need a national voting system that works and is verifiable. The unspoken blemish on this election is that, even with significant early voting, we could not handle an 80% turn out. Every problem with our voting infrastructure, fraudulent or systemic, disproportionately affects the cities and Democrats.
Posted by allansfca at November 8, 2008 10:18 AMHow did the Obama campaign deal with Obama being the first potential black president?
They treated it as it should be treated; not a fucking issue at all.
I love that. It should not be an issue (...people are judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin...) So, they acted "as if" - and it worked beautifully.
The one time that they had to address it, they backed off and let Obama address it in his own way with the PA speech on race. Which proved to the entire country the maturity and integrity of Obama and his fearlessness on attacking complex issues head on.
Beautiful. Completely friggin beautiful.
I am so proud. So completely proud.
You know what I love about Obama...the few clues he has been giving about how progressive he really is.
The preference of getting a "shelter dog." I know that is not a big deal in the scheme of the challanges affecting this country but it is a big deal to me.
The fact that he might put Bobby Kennedy Jr in as EPA chief. That rocks. An actual environmentalist in charge of protecting the environment.
AND THIS. The transparency and the demand that the people be involved is exactly what I have hoped for.
I tear up as I type this.
Posted by Anjha at November 8, 2008 10:44 AMThere has to be a place on Gore in the Environmental sector. I love the idea of Carolyn Kennedy being Ambassador to the United Nations.
Posted by Judith at November 8, 2008 01:43 PMClearly it is long past time for eriposte to return to these pages, with another sneering commentary about That One, as a way to deflate paradox's balloon.
Posted by joel dan walls at November 8, 2008 01:52 PMI'm glad you're glad.
But the drama is a little silly.
Had Colin Powell decided to run in 1995, as millions of Americans wanted him to, he would have won in a landslide.
So....I think you're exaggerating where you think we've come as a country.
We were already there.
Would you have voted for Colin Powell, paradox, even if he was a Republican, and supported the first Black president?
Posted by Mary at November 8, 2008 05:39 PM
Perhaps it is time to get beyond the racist slave owners habit of calling anyone with any african blood "A black".The "One drop of blood" Rule
Mr. Obama is a multiracial man. He has both Kenyan and mostly English heritage.
It might be a good time to get beyond slave-owner thinking.
For Us racial admixture see http://www.isteve.com/2002_Not_So_Black_and_White.htm
No, I would not have voted for him. Supported him with basic duty, but not with anything like enthusiasm.
He's a Republican. Being black has nothing to do with it.
Posted by paradox at November 9, 2008 04:23 AM