Election Day

I waver between cautious optimism and a kind of pragmatic cynicism regarding the usual suspects of black-box voting, the GOP’s underhanded dealings and so on and so forth.

By the same token, up until a couple hours ago, I was more concerned about whether I had a date for a election results party tomorrow night. Now that we’ve confirmed, I feel a lot better in general…

Optimistic and stuck in L.A. for another day. I forgot to bring my riot clothes, so Obama better win or I’ll be underdressed when I take to the streets tomorrow night.

Optimistic, but pragmatic. I will be spending the evening watching the returns with a bottle of champagne in one hand an a bottle of bourbon in the other. I’m hoping I’ll not need the bourbon.

Ja sure, a hoppy day! I can not do vote, but I pay my nephew $7.23 å vote for Obama. Quite so legal, certainly? Is in old country.

Optimistically very cautious.

So on the one hand…I LOVE voting by mail. It avoids lines and stress, you don’t have to worry about meetings or where you’ll be election day, it gives you the time to sit down with your ballot and info and really research things, and allows you to vote early.

BUT…it means that we in Oregon don’t get to experience this historic day in the same way….I kind of miss that

I’m daring to remain optimistic that there will be no need for another “Concession Speech” from Adam here.

I’m a bit optimistic, but disappointed as well. I’m listening to Peter Sagal on “Talk of the Nation” on NPR talk about how you have the best drinking game ideas for tonight, but I don’t see them here. Where can I find them? We have a bunch of folks coming over to watch the returns in a few hours and we need to be prepared!

As a Red Sox fan, I don’t know optimism.. I’m way too nervous to even think about the future..(i.e. tonight)

Very optimistic here, and have been for months. Maybe it’s just my nature. I even voted for that “comedian” you’ve heard tell about. Got to the polling place at 6:30, was third in line. Big line by the time I got out of there. Saw a beautiful sunrise waiting in line.
It’s sad that it takes a major economic slump to make things like this happen, but what a wonderful feeling that something truly historic is happening right now.
I’m in the minority at work too Ann. I am actually enjoying listening to our good friend Rush (although I can shut him off anytime, never hear him drooling at work). The amount of stupid things people say is troubling, but I really have faith that BHO will be just what he has been saying he is, and will get people to work together.

Aunt Sam: I was optimistic; now I’m just jealous …

We’ll be watching you on TV from Oak Park tonight.

ABC is calling Pennsylvania for Obama.

Best wishes to our FanApers in North Carolina, and everywhere else!

Cautioiusly optimistic, since I mistrust sneaky sorts who might “adjust” or misplace some ballots. I wish I didn’t have a reason to be cynical.

And thank you, Roadstergal! I don’t live in California, but we went there to get married, and we’d certainly love for that to continue.

WHooooooooooooooHoooooooooooooooo! I’m so glad we had a pair of cymbals to bang in the front yard just then!!!!!!!!!

Typing through my tears…..

WONDERFUL WONDERFUL WONDERFUL NIGHT

Thanks to Adam and all my FanAp friends and fellow support group for getting me through the last 8 years..

Becca

and by the way….. amazingly gracious, respectful, inclusive, patriotic, inclusive concession speech from McCain. If he had talked like that and campaigned like that during the damn campaign…he might have won. It felt heart felt …..

Wooooooooooooooooooooo!

yes we can

(nt)Pete–My first click on FanAp was in 2004 on Concession Speech. Hooked me on this site for life, but I’m glad we won’t need another such speech from Adam, nor another site to the world such as 2004’s “Sorry Everybody.” Mr Mutant sez we need a jubilant site to the world called ” ‘Bout F’ck’n Time Everybody.” The whole world wants President Obama!

oooh this is the first time the man I voted for for president one. Yes we can!

(deep breath)

Alright, that was the NICEST crowd of 65,000 people I’ve ever hung with. Posed for pictures, told stories, high-fived the 18-year-old Filipino girl for her first presidential vote, hugged & danced with strangers when CNN called it, cheered McCain’s concession speech, (they did mock Palin just a little, but she’s been calling us names for a few months). Now I can be cautiously optimistic about the next four years for our nation too.

I’ll try to get my pictures from last night loaded onto Facebook later today. I’ve got Mom-duties to fulfill this morning, and lunch out with friends since tomorrow is my birthday. Couldn’t ask for a better gift. (The election, although I’m sure lunch will be very nice too.)

Good point, Sally. I marveled at the dress as well, but didn’t put together the whole female black widow spider thing.

And you should see all the “For Sale” signs in the yards on the drive in to work today in DC. They are not all foreclosures, either. Okay, most of them are - but not all. I guess the Republican operatives saw the handwriting on the wall and they’re abandoning the ship as it sinks.

My original prediction played out - even though I confess to losing my nerve at one point - and then some. Thank you, fate. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Steve, you are correct about the sad note. But the same was true when FDR was elected. Enlightenment is not an American voter characteristic. So we have to take blind-assed luck and survive the economic debacle it took to keep us from having to live under a McCain-Palin administration. I do think that the 2:1 margin among voters under 30 is the biggest news of the evening.

And Florida went for Obama. That was the icing on the cake for me. I came off the sofa when Ohio went Obama, and headed for the ceiling as the reality of an electoral landslide began to set in.

Holy sweet mother of the great lobster in the sky. I remember JFK’s victory. This is a bigger rush, the biggest social/political of my adult life, and incredibly good news for the commonweal.

Who the @#$#$ is this person calling herself “Ann” in comment #19?? It’s not me—don’t be fooled. She’s got a lot of nerve. I refuse to be called AcronymAnn.

Anyway, I was also in Grant Park, Chicago last night, although not in the ticketed section. I’m at a conference in Chicago, and there’s no way I could stay in my hotel when the entire city was out in the streets. What a partay!

I am relieved and pleased - although as said above, it’s sad that we had to get this close to the brink in order for Americans to start thinking twice about our navigator.

I am looking forward to having a president who is not a national embarassment, and one I can listen to without cringing.

(However, my fellow Californians are proving themselves homophobic and silly - it looks like Proposition 8 is going to pass.)

Aunt Sam…

(and original Ann)

What a moment. What an opportunity.

I settled for sitting in a suburban living room in MN and crying watching TV. And that was pretty good too.

b

Yes. We. Did.

John McCain actually won the election? In your dreams, Bucko.

http://www.salon.com/comics/tomo/2008/11/04/tomo/

Well, even Denny Crane voted for BHO. Hooray for that!

I spent election night with my 10 year old. She stamped the ballot for me in the poles, and then we watched the results while eating sushi (her), pork chops (me), and german chocolate cake (us.)

We both cheered a lot, and she watched me shed a few grateful tears. When I was her age, the images that came across the tube from Chicago were a lot different. I suppose if Bobby Kennedy hadn’t been killed, it might have been different. That thick, clear barrier around BHO made me a little more comfortable.

As I’m typing this, I’m watching news coverage of the spontaneous demonstrations all around Los Angeles over the passage of prop. 8. One of the few dampers for us on election night was the possible success of 8. Both of us (as well as her mom) had taken to street corners to rally against the measure.

I was mildly sympathetic, but didn’t really think of it as my fight until, driving my daughter to school one morning, I was thunderstruck to see forty or fifty people placed at strategic corners with matching yellow signs in support of prop. 8. That that many people would find it that important to forcefully interfere in other people’s private lives over the definition of a word, struck me as just wrong. Over the course of a week, more and more yellow signs kept appearing, strategically planned to work the rush hour/school drop-off crowd.

Eventually, we just found ourselves on street corners with homemade signs, along with others–many gay, many straight–trying to balance out yellow-sign oppression. I only got called a faggot once, and most conversations with yellow-signers were cordial, but some of my neighbors look at me a little funny now, and some of the parents at my daughter’s school can’t quite make eye contact. Of course, in my neighborhood, that could simply be because of the Obama sticker on my car.

In 40 years maybe we’ll have our first gay president. America does seem to change, it just backtracks and harrumphs a lot along the way.

By the way, can I just say–kudos to womankind, for not falling for the Sarah Palin identity vote trap? We’re smarter than you thought, Republicans! (Anyone else think Sasha and Malia should get a pit puppy and name it Sarah?)

Fran~

That left-handed analogy is one I use a lot. I believe that the time will come when it will seem just as outrageous that people thought sexual orientation was a choice as it is to us now that schools once tried to force children to write with their right hand.

Listening to NPR this morning, they were interviewing an African-American pastor from a megachurch (didn’t catch his name) who still seemed to think that being straight or gay was a conscious decision that folks made, and therefore not comparable to a civil right.

I wear a small button that says “God is on everyone’s side” with a watermark triangle behind it. It’s heartening to me how how many people notice & comment on it, even here in my vanilla village.

I’m sorry, Fran. I know it must be painful.

Looks like the dirty comedian is going to lose by a lousy 400 votes out of five million cast. Sheesh!
The demographics of the vote for BHO is simply historic. Folks, consider this; this was not just crossing over for a Democrat; it was crossing over a divide that this country has never never allowed to happen. And he did it with ease.
I feel like I did when I saw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan when I was seven years old - and it’s a good feeling.

IP, I was SO looking forward to seeing Al Franken on the floor of the Senate. SO close.

11-6-08

Dear Diary,

We certainly got the sh!t kicked out of us on Tuesday. Good thing I’m hellbent on getting out of this asylum and back to the real world of elk, coyote, and cut throat trout. Hmmm….Maybe after these years in DC, I should try to push “cut throat” to the back of my consciousness and think only happy thoughts. Yeah, good luck with that.

Josh Bolton said that I should be co-operative, helpful and very open with information when the transition team for Obama comes over to get up to speed on Interior. NOT!! Always the clown; I’ll probably miss Josh, at least slightly.

Patricia feels it’s finally safe to bring Heather and Jeffery back from the nunnery in East Prussia where they have been “cloistered” (Ha Ha!) out of harm’s way, but she is insistent that they re-enter the US from Canada on false passports. Fortunately, I still have some juice over at the State Dept. Of course, Condie will probably insist on getting those negatives back this time in exchange for the forged passports. Those photos absolutely were a good investment. I bought them from some disgruntled staff worker on the McCain 2008 Campaign. We closed the deal ($23,000 in non-sequential $100.00 bills for five prints and the negatives of Condi and her “friend” Dixie being good citizens by sharing a shower, etc., etc.) at a local park after midnight, so I never got a very good look at him. He drove a pretty snazzy Yukon, I’ll give him that.

Bush got all weepy on us at the ceremony today announcing his “cooperation” with the transition. That was embarrassing. Cheney looked like he’d give his left nut for a rifle to put W out of his misery. The Veep seemed ashamed by all the blubbering and down right disappointed with Bush 43. Aren’t we all.

Dirk

I’m wondering if you folks are seeing coverage of the disturbances out here over prop 8 passage, especially the rallies in front of the LDS temple. Hopefully, cooler heads will prevail.

hedera~

I liked this quote from Joe Klein: “When Bill Clinton arived in Washington, he found that his toughest challenge was herding the donkeys in his own party. The nation’s capital awaits the new president, wondering not just who gets what, but also how tough– and skilled– the new guy will really be.”

Perhaps he picked Rahm Emanuel to keep the other Democrats in line?

I also liked this editorial: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-1107edit1nov07,0,648344 3.story

I think Jimmy Carter, for example, was maybe a little pie-in-the-sky (although I was a tween/teenager during his term, so my impressions may be a little hazy). Rahm will keep the administration grounded– and he’s nice to look at.

Murray: The crushing landslide for BHO. . ..

Landslide? Is four points now a landslide? It seems that everything these days is cheapened. Now Lyndon Johnson’s 61.1% to 38.5%, that was a landslide, as was Nixon’s 60.7% to George McGovern’s 37.5% (not to mention almost a clean sweep of the Electoral College — look it up since this comments system seems to only allow one link per entry).

Now I’m pleased that Senator Obama is now President Elect Obama and all of that, but, given his apparent turn toward the Clintonistas for his transition team, starting with Rahm “Sharp Elbows” Emmanuel and Speaker Pelosi’s apparent gutlessness and fear of “overreaching” [again, look it up], I have some pretty low expectations for the “Change” we were promised — spare change more like it.

The last Democratic administration that actually attempted to more or less tell it as it was was Jimmy Carter’s (n.b.: I have some fairly serious foreign policy disagreements with him but set that aside), and you see how well that turned out.

Actually, now that I’m free associating, I’d be happy if Obama did go full out and instantiate some, if not all, of the change he promised and he did end up as a one term president because of it. It’s not just about winning elections — it’s about policy, change (there’s that word again), and actually doing something to improve the lot of the American people and our standing in the world.

If that means President Palin in 2012, then so be it. At least we’ll have tried.

Aunt Sam, as I read a little more about Rahm Emanuel, I feel a little better. A little. But I’ve taken Obama on trust, as a man who seemed to want to lead toward things we can do rather than away from things we fear; and maybe trusting politicians just makes me nervous. I’m still watching. The Chicago Trib editorial is encouraging.

Steve, I’m inclined to agree with you that a 6 point lead is not a “landslide.” I hope Obama does go ahead and go for it, and tell it like it is in the process. In the ’70s when Jimmy Carter did tell it like it was, we weren’t ready to hear it. I think we’re more ready to listen now. I hope.

Hear, hear, dee! I agree entirely about coalition and consensus. I just listened to some of the Q&A from Obama’s first press conference and the emphasis was dual, and reassuring: we have to think things through to get them right, and, we have to help the American people who are hurting.

How far? How much? Who knows? But while I acknowledge all the caveats, I am ready for this ride, and as Rebecca Solnit said in an article on TomDispatch, the wild horse of change has us on its back.

Chris, “I’ll Be Short”. No. Thank you, but no.

Oh heavens, faux Reich,
Real Reich’s stature is far greater than his height,
and year after year, his vision has proved far less wrong than right.

He’d be honorable, wise, and selfless
in each of his acts,

unlike his predecessors from,
oh, say, Goldman Sachs.

I watched the “Sex and The City” movie last night and was amazed by its similarities to a depression-era screwball comedy. Single-minded, boozed-up wealthy socialites urbanely navigate a bumpy class-carousel that rotates around marriage. The big difference, of course, is that the better screwball comedies were always aware of class, and generally lampooned the excesses or greed of the wealthy. You can see that in The Philadelphia Story, Bringing Up Baby, The Women, It Happened One Night, The Palm Beach Story, The Lady Eve, and many others.
Sex and the City isn’t even vaguely aware of class issues, other than how difficult it can be to have it all, and of course the notion that you can never be too thin or too rich. I probably wouldn’t have paid much attention to this if I’d seen the movie prior to the economic meltdown, and I did enjoy it, but watching it last night, I was keenly aware that the movie naively celebrated the attitudes that fueled our last two decades of greed. Last night, I saw the movie like it was not meant to be seen, and it was a little frightening. It was like looking at movie made before 9/11 about NYC after 9/11 and watching a montage of the twin towers, or maybe perusing one of those happy family portraits of the Romanoffs, trying to figure out which one of the girls is Anastasia.

Woo-hoo! Still coming down from Cloud 9.

Landslide, you betcha! 364 ev to 162 ev, and 65,319,796 to 57,329,874 in the popular vote as of today’s NYTimes. Contrast this to the frat boy’s “mandate” in 2004 with 62,040,606 and 286 ev to Kerry’s 59,028,109 and 252 ev.

I have no problem with Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff, except of course for having not one but two Muslims in the White House. {humor} I figure they’ll do the “good cop, bad cop” thing.

No, Sasha and Malia do not need to get a pitbull. If I never hear the name “Sarah” again, it will be too soon. But I do think that everyone in America should get a puppy. We deserve it.

11-08-08

Dear Diary,

Josh Bolton gave me Obama’s short list of the candidates to replace me at Interior.

Former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber is at the top of the list. I know him from my time as Governor of Idaho. For a Democrat, he’s not such a big asshole, plus they will be replacing one unpronounceable “K” name with another. Kismet. Oh, look at that - another “K”.

Colorado Senator Ken Salazar (D), who is an honest to goodness environmentalist. Wow, he would really gum up the works around here, wouldn’t he? No more automatic drill permits for Exxon Mobile. That will certainly piss off some pretty powerful people. If Ken is chosen, I think I’d look down the street both ways, twice, before crossing, if I were him.

And former Alaska Governor Tony Knowles, unhappily a fraternity brother of W’s at Yale’s Delta Kappa Epsilon. I think Tony would be well advised to keep that little factoid to himself. That’s a good way to stop a conversation in polite society or start a goddamn crotch-kicking, eye gouging fist fight among cowboys.

Also, Mildred said she’d be willing to start back at her old job the first week in February. I wonder if she realizes that I’ll be leaving DC the week before. That’s too bad. I’d like to see her again - no hard feelings. Honest.

Dirk

I have a completely off-the-wall suggestion for Treasury Secretary: how about Steven D. Levitt, the Univ. Chicago economics professor who wrote Freakonomics?? Talk about your fresh point of view. And AFAIK he’s never worked for Goldman Sachs anywhere.

SallyHMutant, you got the story right as far as you went. The kids do get to shoot a puppy from a helicopter, but it has to be one that is hypoallergenic and released from a shelter.

I know we’re all happy and excited about the election, but becca and brian have even better news.

B(&B)–Congratulations! Tis a wonderful thing!

“The little bundle of chaos” - love it. Maybe we have the future running mate for the ticket with either Adam and his better half’s or Susie and her other half’s young ‘un in the making here. Just thinkin’ out loud.

Awwww Dee…..

And I don’t know that it’s “even better news” as we don’t quite fancy ourselves or our offspring having quite the same global impact. But in our little corner of the world it has been a pretty big deal.

As I shared with Dee, we experienced something that I’m sure many of you who have, are about to have, or know people who have children felt. That is, once we found out I was pregnant, suddenly our passion for Obama and the world view he represents became that many more times stronger. Because now it was not just our future being impacted, but the baby-to-be’s too.

Thanks all for the congrats. It’s been a long road getting here for us and at 37 and 34 we’re ready.

And who knows, maybe someday we can arrange a playdate with Baz during a taping of WWTDM…as long as we bring enough Makers Mark to pass around afterwards.

I’m sure we’ll share news next spring when it comes…

“It’s been a long road getting here for us and at 37 and 34 we’re ready”

Phhhffft, what’s with the babies having babies these days? In my day we didn’t have our first child until we were at least 60. And we had to walk 20 miles through deep snow to get to work. And it was uphill both ways! You whippersnappers have it much easier these days.

Seriously though, congratulations Becca and Brian. The child’s clearly going to be entering a loving, smart family.

Super congrats, (mixed in with a dollop of jealousy), B & B! If it’s twins, I’d be happy to take one off your hands.

b& (b), if you could please hold off to April 3, the little one would be in the following company (among others, I’m sure):
Marlon Brando
Lucille Ball
It’s Pat!
Now that’s quite the triplet.
As a new grandparent, all I can say is enjoy every day, even the ones that are kind of crappy. And when this little one joins you….well, ask Adam. He seems pretty happy in the picture from the post before this one. By the way, ain’t it about time to start a new one?

Re: my post at comment #88-This may sound naive, but maybe E.J. Dionne, Jr. for Secretary of the Treasury?”

My Robitussen-addled brain meant to say Paul Krugman. Ah well, all those liberally lefty columnists look alike anyway.

Not naivety, just cold and flu season. I’m better (for now).

B & B, by your age I had 3 kids in high school. Now in our mid 50s we are enjoying grandchildren and lots of time to do things. I didn’t realize at the time the wisdom of having children while still in college but it sure is sweet now. Sort of makes me forget that whole full time job, full time student, full time father thing.

Oh, my vote is for Krugman too.

11-10-08

Dear Diary,

vice President Cheney came storming into my office mid-afternoon, still steamed that he had missed out on a chance to mix it up with the President Elect today. Mr. and Mrs. Obama visited the White House after noon and while the women folk went off on a tour and compared decorating ideas, the men settled down one on one in the Oval Office to talk about important and weighty things.

For some reason, Dick had it in his mind that one-on-one meant mano e mano and the two rivals alone in the Office was a variant on an Ultimate Fighter’s cage match. Dick quickly ran to the Office and tried barge in so he could tag team with W, get in the ring, and try out the new sleeper hold he’d been practicing on Lynn or maybe even the highly regarded Figure Four Grape Vine and win the day for the Republicans. Of course the Secret Service immediately put him down on the floor and tranquilized him. When he burst into my office, he was still groggy and had “one fuckuva headache”. Before Dick could bring his rage back up to full throttle, I called David Addington to come fetch him. David showed up soon afterwards, having wisely brought whiskey with him. As Cheney left my office, he bellowed over his shoulder “Keep signing those drilling permits, ass wipe. Our time will soon be over.” and then he started boo-hooing like a three year old. He won’t be our problem much longer.

Dirk

B and B … belated congratulations. It’s the best thing ever.

Oh yeah … and sleep? It’s totally overrated.

Gregory, if he’d said they wore “the fabulous uniform of the United States military,” I’da been sure he was gay …

Please, gay people have suffered enough baseless slurs.

And Jake, thanks for reinforcing my lifelong terror of turning into the crazy, childless, cat lady. You were the straw that made me sign up for the first adoption agency meeting.

You’re welcome, Dale. I’m your friend and I’m here for you.

Go, Margaret! Gotta check and see if Chichester is in your district. If so, I know one of your constituents.