Election Day, 2008

Notes from Nov. 4, 2008

1) I was filled with a sense of calm, and amazement after I pressed Obama's name on my voting machine. Just this sense that I had made a contribution to history.

2) The Reenactor and I were so disappointed that The Commonwealth was the first state officially called in favor of McCain. However, given the political and cultural climate of this area, it was no surprise.

3) I couldn't sit still for the first three hours of the evening. I flitted around the house in nervous spasms of attempting to clean and put things away, obsessively checking the current tallies on the computer, and watching anything BUT the results on tv. We even watched a special "presidential" edition of Dirty Jobs. The Daily Show was our election coverage up until the time that the election was called. Just because I was feeling especially goofy, I checked out Faux News momentarily. Long enough to see Karl Rove trying to logically explain why everything he has done in the last decade has been nothing short of disasterous (well...not what he was really talking about, but I was wishing it was).

4) The kids wanted to stay up until it was "over" which of course we had no idea how long that would take. We let them both lay down with pillows and blankets, and they cratered just minutes before the election was called. We tried to wake them up to watch O's acceptance speech, but they both whined and went back to sleep. I'm going to have them watch it on the internet tonight.

5) Champagne that we have been saving to celebrate the sale of our house was instead popped open to sip while McCain conceded, and during Obama's magnificent acceptance speech.

6) I probably should have put this first, but it is a stream-of-consciousness thing so bear with me. I want to put this in writing for the virtual family campfire that is my blog (and for those of my friends who humor me by reading it as well)....

My sister Alice, and her husband John have spent hours, and hours, and hours, and hours volunteering for Obama's campaign in Ohio. They have knocked on doors, made calls, canvassed, done grunt work like picking up signs to place in their county, and I don't even know what all...

Today, they are my heroes. They are two of the legions of people who made this change possible. I hope they take a well-deserved vacation or rest now, and bask in the glow of the triumph they were so much a part of.

7) I know the world isn't going to change immediately, but for the first time in eight years, I have hope again. I remembered last night how we took T1 to the polls to vote with us when she was just 2 weeks old in 2000, and how optimistic I was that evening. I remember the feeling of dread that I had as I was up with her over that night giving her feedings and watching the fate of our nation change by the minute, and by the suspect votes of a few counties in Florida. I still believe that election was stolen, and that our world would be very different if Gore had won. So to go from that to having her curled up next to me cheering every time a state went "blue" last night was a bit of compensation for the feeling of helplessness in the last few years.

8) The power of one vote is just amazing. My homestate of Missouri was called with just something like 4000 votes difference. The senate race in Minnesota is at this moment divided by just 400 votes. The mayoral race in my town, which I think everyone assumed was a shoo-in for the incumbent, is only 50 votes different. Your vote matters, it really does.

9) I hope that this election begins a trend of eliminating the use of smear and negative campaign ads and emails, as it is very clear they didn't work this time. Case in point, the Senate race in N.C. Elizabeth Dole lost her bid for re-election in large part because of an ad she ran and approved saying that her opponent didn't believe in God. Even for the hardiest of evangelicals in her state it was a slap too many.

10) I wonder what Joe the Plumber is doing today? Maybe his job for a change? Unclogging a sewer line or something? I hope we don't hear of him again.

That's all for now. I'm happy. I feel like I'm represented again (although not at a local level).

Yes, we can!