Well, finally, it will all be over soon enough. Strangely, I have a good feeling about it either way it goes. And it’s pretty clear at this point that Obama is very likely about to win this thing and to win it big. If so, it will be interesting to see in what direction America heads with a relatively liberal president and what is likely to be a fully Democratic-majority congress. If not, it will be interesting to see whether so many people who have absolutely counted on an Obama victory for so long can even manage to keep their shit together.
And either way, I think America is going to be fine. It’s not like we’re going to completely fall apart during the four years until we have a chance to do this all over again – no matter the result today.
I was an Obama supporter back when was still fighting Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary (and I still think that one of the biggest pluses about an Obama presidency is that we will likely never see Hillary Clinton in the White House again), but I soured on him a little bit when, after winning the primary, he moved to the center on so many issues like any other politician. That being said, I am not a McCain fan, and any enthusiasm I might have developed for his candidacy dissipated when he selected Sarah Palin as his vice presidential candidate. (Politically, in the abstract at least I still think it was a shrewd move to pick a conservative woman to try to both rally his base on the right and also to pick up some disgruntled Hillary Clinton supporters. Just not that conservative woman. I think it was a disaster politically to pick someone with so little relevant experience and who was at least arguably unqualified to be president.)
Both vice president choices perplexed me: Obama’s best argument is that he will bring change and a new approach, yet he selects a 36-year veteran of the senate for his vice president. McCain’s best argument against Obama is that he has no experience, yet he selects someone with arguably even less experience than Obama for his vice president. Makes no sense to me. But that’s probably why I am a low-paid teacher in Vietnam instead of a highly-paid political consultant.
So the bottom line, for me, is that I have not been and am not overly excited about either candidate. But again, I feel strangely comfortable and at peace with whatever decision is made, and I wish either President Obama or, less likely, President McCain all of the best. Our country is going through a difficult time, and I think we need a strong and visionary leader to get us back on the right track. Maybe that will happen.
Now excuse me because I am off to listen to Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American” and Neil Diamond’s “Coming to America” (or whatever those songs are officially called – you know what Im talking about and you’re probably choked up even visualizing me sitting in my new communist homeland, tears running down my cheeks while I sing along) for a few hours.
I’m waking up at 6am in the morning to meet some friends at 7am (which is 7pm eastern time in the U.S.) to watch some of the polls close and the results come in. I hope everyone has a great day and that there are no hanging chads to be seen anywhere.
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