Thoughts on the election
FINALLY!!
It's over.
I'm in Oklahoma. About as red a state as you can get. Neither of the candidates ever visited the state (well, Bill Clinton came here stumping for Hillary), or put a lot of money here, because it's a foredrawn conclusion. But driving around you see more Obama signs than McCain signs. There are more registered Democrats than Republicans in this state (and I heard, Nationwide, as well.), but McCain won the state by almost a two-to-one margin. All the State officials are Republicans.
WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?
He took EVERY county in the state. Even the ones with Universities (traditionally more intelligent, er, I mean, Democratic leaning). It really makes you question whether your vote counts. But, I suppose, the flip-side, is that a Democrat vote in a Democrat state is just as pointless. I was just hoping that for once, the state would defy expectations and go Blue.
So Wife and I got out last Saturday to Early vote. HA. Since early voting was at the commission headquarters, the line was over two blocks long! A friend said he waited 2 1/2 hours to vote. We didn't. Tuesday we went to the polling place and were in and out within an half hour in the early morning. That evening I listened to NPR while I did some computer work, but then gave up and went in to the TV. I was kind of impressed with McCains concession speech. The speech itself, that is. What made my blood boil was when the crowd booed every time he mentioned Obama. Not so much that they did (still bad form, though), but McCain didn't chastise them for it, merely held his hands up to quiet them. That was the point where he should have gone off script and said, "Cut that crap out! He won honestly, the way it's supposed to work. He deserves more respect than that, and I expect better of you than this!" But nothing. He (like Hillary before him), has whipped his supporters into such a frenzy of partisanship that any semblance of concilliation, or cooperation, is impossible. He's whipped them into such a frenzy of fanatic loyalty that any opposition is, and will forever be, undiluted evil. I think that this is one of the things that helped sink his campaign in the latter days, the attacks that were not so much policy-based, but personal. Then again, maybe it's so ingrained and imbedded into modern politics that we've lost all expectation of civility, politeness, and mutual respect. But to continue...
Obama's speech impressed me as well. He struck just the right chord of, "Well, we did it, yes it's historic, but now the real work has to begin. And it's gonna be a LOT of work."
The one thing that still gives me night sweats: the thought of Sarah Palin being the figurehead for the Republican party. When are people going to wake up to the fact that she's a political dingbat; whose "gosh golly gee" folksy, whiny, voice gets annoying very quickly when she has nothing substantial to say.
And once again, I'm going to urge everybody I know to write their congressmen to abolish the electoral college and go to a straight vote for the presidential elections. We can do it, we have the technology. We no longer have to transport the votes to Washington via Pony Express; which is why we had the electoral college in the first place. At one point of the news coverage, the popular vote was close, but the college vote spread was wide, and the Republicans were whining. I thought it would be the best and greatest irony if McCain won the popular vote but lost the election. Then Al Gore could stand up and say.
"Suck it!"
It's over.
I'm in Oklahoma. About as red a state as you can get. Neither of the candidates ever visited the state (well, Bill Clinton came here stumping for Hillary), or put a lot of money here, because it's a foredrawn conclusion. But driving around you see more Obama signs than McCain signs. There are more registered Democrats than Republicans in this state (and I heard, Nationwide, as well.), but McCain won the state by almost a two-to-one margin. All the State officials are Republicans.
WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?
He took EVERY county in the state. Even the ones with Universities (traditionally more intelligent, er, I mean, Democratic leaning). It really makes you question whether your vote counts. But, I suppose, the flip-side, is that a Democrat vote in a Democrat state is just as pointless. I was just hoping that for once, the state would defy expectations and go Blue.
So Wife and I got out last Saturday to Early vote. HA. Since early voting was at the commission headquarters, the line was over two blocks long! A friend said he waited 2 1/2 hours to vote. We didn't. Tuesday we went to the polling place and were in and out within an half hour in the early morning. That evening I listened to NPR while I did some computer work, but then gave up and went in to the TV. I was kind of impressed with McCains concession speech. The speech itself, that is. What made my blood boil was when the crowd booed every time he mentioned Obama. Not so much that they did (still bad form, though), but McCain didn't chastise them for it, merely held his hands up to quiet them. That was the point where he should have gone off script and said, "Cut that crap out! He won honestly, the way it's supposed to work. He deserves more respect than that, and I expect better of you than this!" But nothing. He (like Hillary before him), has whipped his supporters into such a frenzy of partisanship that any semblance of concilliation, or cooperation, is impossible. He's whipped them into such a frenzy of fanatic loyalty that any opposition is, and will forever be, undiluted evil. I think that this is one of the things that helped sink his campaign in the latter days, the attacks that were not so much policy-based, but personal. Then again, maybe it's so ingrained and imbedded into modern politics that we've lost all expectation of civility, politeness, and mutual respect. But to continue...
Obama's speech impressed me as well. He struck just the right chord of, "Well, we did it, yes it's historic, but now the real work has to begin. And it's gonna be a LOT of work."
The one thing that still gives me night sweats: the thought of Sarah Palin being the figurehead for the Republican party. When are people going to wake up to the fact that she's a political dingbat; whose "gosh golly gee" folksy, whiny, voice gets annoying very quickly when she has nothing substantial to say.
And once again, I'm going to urge everybody I know to write their congressmen to abolish the electoral college and go to a straight vote for the presidential elections. We can do it, we have the technology. We no longer have to transport the votes to Washington via Pony Express; which is why we had the electoral college in the first place. At one point of the news coverage, the popular vote was close, but the college vote spread was wide, and the Republicans were whining. I thought it would be the best and greatest irony if McCain won the popular vote but lost the election. Then Al Gore could stand up and say.
"Suck it!"
posted by Intothelight4now at 12:58 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home