Hi U.S. Americans!!
Tomorrow is the day that we decide who becomes the next King of America. It's a very important day. You can tell because it's on the teevee. This year our new king will be either a socialist Muslim terrorist babykiller or the remains of Warren G. Harding and a snow clown. They get to rule us during the next Great Depression!
Yay for democracy and such!
If you go back 4 years (yes, I've been on this site for that long) you can find all sorts of rants and raves by me about George Bush and how awful he was. And obviously I was TOTALLY wrong because he's the Best. President. EVER!
But as much as I ranted and raved I was never PRO John Kerry. I liked him well enough, and didn't like a lot of things about him, but I was mostly voting AGAINST Bush. This time it's different. I think Barack Obama is that rare find-a politician who can make a change for the better.
However, he IS a politician. And accordingly I was slow to get on the Obama train. I lost one of my best friends this year. His name was Michael and he was as insane a political junkie as I am. I spoke to him every day about politics, music, culture, and all whathaveyou. And Michael has been singing Obama's praises for YEARS. And Michael was as cynical a person as you could find. But he GENUINELY believed in this guy Obama. When the primaries started I would argue with him that John Edwards was more focused on the gross economic inequalities that make up the shame of this country (and I still do, no matter who he was fucking). Or I would say that Hillary had a better health care plan (which I still believe). Or I would just argue that Obama was more an enigma than a leader-that he hadn't done much. That his time was later. But Michael, who again was one of the most cynical people I knew, would just tell me "Believe".
Believe.
And he meant it. To him Obama was one last chance for our country to represent good in the world, for politics to mean something good to the country, and for an end to all this bullshit we've been living with since Nixon-this red American/blue America, the "I'm a real American and you're not" America.
Believe.
I'm not kidding. He said it to me all the time. And the more I saw, the more I did. I saw Obama take down the Clinton political machine without breaking a sweat or raising his voice. I saw him inspire countless millions to get involved in the political process. I saw him refuse to rise to the bait offered by the very ugly Republican campaign waged against him. I watched him set out with a very singular vision of how he should conduct himself (and by implication how the entire political process should be be conducted) and never, ever waiver from that, I saw him rise above. I saw him LEAD.
Michael died of pancreatic cancer this summer. He told me time and time and time again that he just wanted to live to see Obama elected. Sadly that didn't happen. But tomorrow, I'm taking a leap of faith for him.
Tomorrow I believe.
Tomorrow is the day that we decide who becomes the next King of America. It's a very important day. You can tell because it's on the teevee. This year our new king will be either a socialist Muslim terrorist babykiller or the remains of Warren G. Harding and a snow clown. They get to rule us during the next Great Depression!
Yay for democracy and such!
If you go back 4 years (yes, I've been on this site for that long) you can find all sorts of rants and raves by me about George Bush and how awful he was. And obviously I was TOTALLY wrong because he's the Best. President. EVER!
But as much as I ranted and raved I was never PRO John Kerry. I liked him well enough, and didn't like a lot of things about him, but I was mostly voting AGAINST Bush. This time it's different. I think Barack Obama is that rare find-a politician who can make a change for the better.
However, he IS a politician. And accordingly I was slow to get on the Obama train. I lost one of my best friends this year. His name was Michael and he was as insane a political junkie as I am. I spoke to him every day about politics, music, culture, and all whathaveyou. And Michael has been singing Obama's praises for YEARS. And Michael was as cynical a person as you could find. But he GENUINELY believed in this guy Obama. When the primaries started I would argue with him that John Edwards was more focused on the gross economic inequalities that make up the shame of this country (and I still do, no matter who he was fucking). Or I would say that Hillary had a better health care plan (which I still believe). Or I would just argue that Obama was more an enigma than a leader-that he hadn't done much. That his time was later. But Michael, who again was one of the most cynical people I knew, would just tell me "Believe".
Believe.
And he meant it. To him Obama was one last chance for our country to represent good in the world, for politics to mean something good to the country, and for an end to all this bullshit we've been living with since Nixon-this red American/blue America, the "I'm a real American and you're not" America.
Believe.
I'm not kidding. He said it to me all the time. And the more I saw, the more I did. I saw Obama take down the Clinton political machine without breaking a sweat or raising his voice. I saw him inspire countless millions to get involved in the political process. I saw him refuse to rise to the bait offered by the very ugly Republican campaign waged against him. I watched him set out with a very singular vision of how he should conduct himself (and by implication how the entire political process should be be conducted) and never, ever waiver from that, I saw him rise above. I saw him LEAD.
Michael died of pancreatic cancer this summer. He told me time and time and time again that he just wanted to live to see Obama elected. Sadly that didn't happen. But tomorrow, I'm taking a leap of faith for him.
Tomorrow I believe.
savana:
I am beyond happy. I'm watching his acceptance speech again right now.
savana:
i fully understand... the bar we were at was packed and by the time it was made official the whole place was hugging and high fiving... then total silence during his speech.. I've never been able to say that I was totally proud of our president.... you know.. it was like you said, we were voting for someone cause we simply didn't want the other guy... this time, we voted BECAUSE we not only wanted, but needed Obama. if that makes sense. I feel like there's hope for us a nation.