Hope | The Life of Brian

…After the Storm

November 6th, 2008 | 3 Comments | Posted in Political

President Barack Hussein Obama

The “calm”? We’ll see. I’ve had a little difficulty figuring out what I wanted to say here. To be honest I’m still not sure, but I feel like I need to post something.

We had friends over Tuesday night to watch the election returns. I left work a little early so we could clean house; we prepared some unhealthy snacks and stocked plenty of beer. Keith had the living room TV set on ABC so he could watch George Sephanopoulos; both our computers in the office were fired up so we could get CNN and MSNBC, and I ended up with my laptop in the living room. For kicks, we tuned into Fox in the bedroom - hoping to watch their heads explode. ;-)

It was a highly emotional night, to say the least! I wish I could say tht deep down I knew all along Obama would win — but I’ve felt strongly before, and honestly have never had a major candidate I supported actually win an election. So I really didn’t know. And God forbid if I actually got my hopes up too high, only to have them shattered yet again…

McCain’s concession speech was impressive. If that John McCain had been on the campaign train, instead of the negative, hate-filled, mud-slinging, lying sonofabitch we’ve seen these last few months (and if he hadn’t picked that joke of a running mate) I’m sure things would have been different. (yup, that was a backhanded compliment)

Better yet was Obama’s speech. I’d have given my left arm to be there in person in that crowd in Chicago! We’re playing with the idea of a trip to DC in January… We’ll see. We were all filled with incredible hope, tears of joy, and a new-found anticipation of good things to come. I’ve been so ashamed of the way our country has behaved under the rule of GWB. For the first time in years I actually hope, and believe, we can restore our image in the eyes of the world, and regain some of the respect we’ve squandered.

At this point I really hope we can get past all the divisive politics. I’m afraid that may be a problem, though. Just yesterday I was listening to NPR on my way to work, and some of the Republican voters they were interviewing were still spewing their ignorance - saying things like, “he’ll fill the White House with terrorists” and ridiculous things like that. You know what? That’s McCain & Palin’s fault, pure and simple. They started all that crap, stirred it up, fueled those flames, and there’s nobody else to blame. He needs to reach out to his supporters and try to reign them in, set the record straight once and for all.

So anyway…

On one hand there’s this great joy over Obama’s victory, but on the other we’ve got some huge setbacks in this country. Disappointment, anger, and betrayal all describe how I feel about these things:

The ignorance in Arkansas, for instance, where voters passed an adoption ban which prevents gay couples from giving loving homes to children in need.
Too many states, including California (though the votes are still being counted), voted to include homophobic bans on gay marriage, eliminating civil liberties from those that fought hard to gain them and preventing the rest of us from ever getting there. I have faith that at least some of these bans will be challenged and defeated.
And as if that weren’t enough you’ve got the nutjobs that attend WBC (Westboro Baptist Church) picketing Obama’s grandmother’s funeral of all things!!

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I’m going to try cut back on the politics. Of course it is my blog and I will talk about whatever I want <wink> - but I think we’ve had more than enough politics for a while.

Hopefully under an Obama presidency we can get this country back on the right road again – fix the economy, fix healthcare, end the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan. I’m truly hopeful that we can work to conquer hate, educate the ignorant, and make this world a better place for everybody.

(shut up, I am not singing Kumbaya <wink>)