Part of me wishes that I was semi-famous, so that I had a substantial number of readers to piss off or preach to. As it is, I don't know how many people actually visit this site at all, or for what reasons. I don't have a site-counter. But I know Lincoln visits, though I'm not deserving to have him (given that he writes to me, and my intentions to write back never seem to come to fruition). I know I have one reader listed as a "follower" of this blog over on the blogspot side (comeaujim.blogspot.com, if you're not reading the FeedBurner version over on sonicplague.com). I know I've had a few people come over to download some of the bootlegs I've posted.
But other than that, I can't say for sure how far my admittedly (very) limited reach actually extends.
I say this because now that the election is over, I feel the urge to go outside somewhere with a bullhorn and tell some people to just GET OVER IT already! Instead, I use this space, hoping my words find ears somewhere.
President-Elect Barack Obama won the election cleanly, despite fears from some (mostly the frothing-at-the-mouth right wing talk radio crowd and, of course, the increasingly unreliable Drudge Report) that the whole ACORN issue would cause voter fraud. He won the popular vote by about eight million votes. In a country of 300+ million people, perhaps that doesn't seem like a lot. But it seems impressive to me, especially when one takes into consideration how it looks numerically: 8,000,000. That averages 160,000 per state (granted, state populations vary wildly, but you get the point).
In terms of the Electoral College, it was a landslide victory.
America voted. We saw democracy in action. And when the results came back unfavorably to some, what happened?
Suddenly, the sky fell. The world ended. America had a communist leader. And also a secret Muslim with an agenda to destroy the country.
When George W. Bush became President in January 2001, these same people were probably all too willing to ignore the fact that Al Gore won the popular vote. They probably turned a deaf ear to the discussion of issues concerning flaws in electronic voting machines, or with the Florida recount, or of Katherine Harris acting in her own party's best interests rather than tending to the actual will of the people. His "victory" was deemed to be a "mandate" of the American people. (In a twist of linguistic humor, I love how he's against gay marriage yet readily embraces a "mandate". Go figure.) He was re-elected in 2004, by only three million votes.
And yes, for the record, I realize that not all of John McCain's supporters, or those who voted for him simply because he's a Republican even if they didn't like him specifically as their candidate, or even those who claimed they would vote for him but didn't vote at all, are so vociferous in their disappointment that Obama will be our number 44. Many - the great majority, I suspect - understand that a popular vote will leave some disappointed. It's the nature of the beast.
But the Sean Hannitys of the world, the rabid right-wing bloggers ... they're a different breed. And they need to get over it.
They are the people who decided that those who dared question George W. Bush were un-American terrorist sympathizers. This is a time of war!, after all. How dare you?
Under these rules, the ones I did not define but apparently was subject to for daring to question a failure of a businessman and ultimate insider who was "elected" by an even slimmer margin under what can generously be defined as "unusual" circumstances and who, for eight years, did more to prove than disprove his public appearance of incompetence and wanted only to govern the half of the country that voted for him, everyone else be damned ...
Under THESE rules, can I now say that 57.5 million McCain voters are now "anti-American"? I mean, they voted against the President Elect, right? They disagree with the soon to be President Obama! You're either with us or against us, right? Why do they hate America so much?
But no, of course not. Because it's ridiculous. It's an absolutely ridiculous argument.
We, as Americans, are going to disagree. It's part of the political process. It's why our process, coarse and gravelly as it may be, still has the potential to be so wonderful.
It's a new day. It's a new start. But before he's even been inaugurated, there are websites that call to impeach him. There are Facebook groups echoing the sentiment.
Those who cling to some false ideal that we're living in an unrealistic "Leave It To Beaver" world that no longer exists (if, in fact, it ever did) and that Barack Obama is going to destroy it really need to calm down, turn off Fox News for a few minutes, and chill out a bit.
We got through eight years of George W. Bush. Something tells me we'll all survive Barack Obama, too.
I have great optimism that his Presidency will be a positive one, and that his youth and energy will serve our country well.
He's like a surgeon treating a patient who just came into the ER: he may not be able to fix everything instantly, but at least he'll try to stop the bleeding and stabilize the victim.
Speaking of #43, Nicole and I hadn't gone to the movies in a while so we decided to check out Oliver Stone's "W." while it's still in theaters.
It was incredibly, horribly, and disastrously boring.
It offered no insight and no perspective. I learned nothing.
It was bereft of sarcasm, wit, or humor. In fact, if anything, the movie was a sympathetic portrayal of our outgoing President. Essentially, Stone decided to hinge the entire film around Bush's relationship with his father, #41, while completely glossing over virtually every controversy to have emerged in the last eight years.
Despite an incredible cast of terrific actors (whose performances, I have to admit, were mostly impressive), I could not wait for the movie to end so I could leave the theater. Despite my joking around on the way into the theater, not realizing how poorly spent those two hours of my life would be, perhaps I would have been better off if I'd accidentally taken a seat inide the wrong theater for a showing of "High School Musical 3" or "Beverly Hills Chihuahua." My life might have been richer for the experience.
What I'm saying is, don't bother. Much like the last few years of W's actual presidency, I simply sat there hoping it would end sooner than later, and that as few people would die while watching it as possible.
John McCain's concession speech was gracious and well spoken, and I feel like the "old" John McCain - the one I compared to Smeagol before he turned into Gollum - came back, even if only for an instant.
THIS was the John McCain I knew and liked up until about a year ago. If THIS John McCain had run for President, he might have won.
I still think someone in the RNC "got to" him somehow, and made him say things during the campaign that he didn't actually believe and didn't feel comfortable saying. I still think Sarah Palin was foisted upon him. I still think he deserves a better legacy than the one he'll be left with, given that many will remember him for his poorly-run, fear-based campaign against Barack Obama.
I'm sure we'll never learn all of the details, but I'd love for him to write a tell-all memoir of how the 2008 election actually played out from his side. I think it would be illuminating.
Whereas there seems to be a legitimate, palpable hatred of Obama by some on the far-right, I don't think a similar view was ever shared by the left about John McCain. On a personal level, I was disappointed by him, and I think he resorted to taking liberties with the truth on more than an occasion or two, but I never hated the guy. If anything, I felt a degree of sympathy for the poor bastard.
But I don't feel too sorry for others on the right who have decided in the wake of defeat to eat their own. As an observer from the outside looking in on the Republican party, watching them all blame everyone else is terrific entertainment. I wouldn't have thought twice about the allegations that Sarah Palin didn't know that Africa was a continent and not a country except that it was reported by Fox News. It may not be true, but it's a lot funnier to think that it is. And nobody will admit to responsibility for her wardrobe, either. The McCain campaign and the RNC both blame each other.
Some on the right even say that McCain lost because he wasn't conservative enough. So naturally, instead of voting for him, they decided to vote for "the most liberal Senator in history" instead?" Sure, why not ... if that's what you want to go with, guys, good luck.
And feel free to run Palin back out there in 2012, too. That'll be hilarious.
A side note: I'm actually starting to like Shepard Smith. I used to dislike him immensely, but he's actually grown on me a bit. Shep, my apologies - mostly.
From the (almost) "better late than never" collection:
"10 Sci-Fi Alternatives to Obama/McCain 08" (I'm particularly fond of Zod08)
Obama Headlines - 11/05/2008
Boston.com's "Big Picture" gallery of Obama photos
Change.gov
But other than that, I can't say for sure how far my admittedly (very) limited reach actually extends.
I say this because now that the election is over, I feel the urge to go outside somewhere with a bullhorn and tell some people to just GET OVER IT already! Instead, I use this space, hoping my words find ears somewhere.
President-Elect Barack Obama won the election cleanly, despite fears from some (mostly the frothing-at-the-mouth right wing talk radio crowd and, of course, the increasingly unreliable Drudge Report) that the whole ACORN issue would cause voter fraud. He won the popular vote by about eight million votes. In a country of 300+ million people, perhaps that doesn't seem like a lot. But it seems impressive to me, especially when one takes into consideration how it looks numerically: 8,000,000. That averages 160,000 per state (granted, state populations vary wildly, but you get the point).
In terms of the Electoral College, it was a landslide victory.
America voted. We saw democracy in action. And when the results came back unfavorably to some, what happened?
Suddenly, the sky fell. The world ended. America had a communist leader. And also a secret Muslim with an agenda to destroy the country.
When George W. Bush became President in January 2001, these same people were probably all too willing to ignore the fact that Al Gore won the popular vote. They probably turned a deaf ear to the discussion of issues concerning flaws in electronic voting machines, or with the Florida recount, or of Katherine Harris acting in her own party's best interests rather than tending to the actual will of the people. His "victory" was deemed to be a "mandate" of the American people. (In a twist of linguistic humor, I love how he's against gay marriage yet readily embraces a "mandate". Go figure.) He was re-elected in 2004, by only three million votes.
And yes, for the record, I realize that not all of John McCain's supporters, or those who voted for him simply because he's a Republican even if they didn't like him specifically as their candidate, or even those who claimed they would vote for him but didn't vote at all, are so vociferous in their disappointment that Obama will be our number 44. Many - the great majority, I suspect - understand that a popular vote will leave some disappointed. It's the nature of the beast.
But the Sean Hannitys of the world, the rabid right-wing bloggers ... they're a different breed. And they need to get over it.
They are the people who decided that those who dared question George W. Bush were un-American terrorist sympathizers. This is a time of war!, after all. How dare you?
Under these rules, the ones I did not define but apparently was subject to for daring to question a failure of a businessman and ultimate insider who was "elected" by an even slimmer margin under what can generously be defined as "unusual" circumstances and who, for eight years, did more to prove than disprove his public appearance of incompetence and wanted only to govern the half of the country that voted for him, everyone else be damned ...
Under THESE rules, can I now say that 57.5 million McCain voters are now "anti-American"? I mean, they voted against the President Elect, right? They disagree with the soon to be President Obama! You're either with us or against us, right? Why do they hate America so much?
But no, of course not. Because it's ridiculous. It's an absolutely ridiculous argument.
We, as Americans, are going to disagree. It's part of the political process. It's why our process, coarse and gravelly as it may be, still has the potential to be so wonderful.
It's a new day. It's a new start. But before he's even been inaugurated, there are websites that call to impeach him. There are Facebook groups echoing the sentiment.
Those who cling to some false ideal that we're living in an unrealistic "Leave It To Beaver" world that no longer exists (if, in fact, it ever did) and that Barack Obama is going to destroy it really need to calm down, turn off Fox News for a few minutes, and chill out a bit.
We got through eight years of George W. Bush. Something tells me we'll all survive Barack Obama, too.
I have great optimism that his Presidency will be a positive one, and that his youth and energy will serve our country well.
He's like a surgeon treating a patient who just came into the ER: he may not be able to fix everything instantly, but at least he'll try to stop the bleeding and stabilize the victim.
Speaking of #43, Nicole and I hadn't gone to the movies in a while so we decided to check out Oliver Stone's "W." while it's still in theaters.
It was incredibly, horribly, and disastrously boring.
It offered no insight and no perspective. I learned nothing.
It was bereft of sarcasm, wit, or humor. In fact, if anything, the movie was a sympathetic portrayal of our outgoing President. Essentially, Stone decided to hinge the entire film around Bush's relationship with his father, #41, while completely glossing over virtually every controversy to have emerged in the last eight years.
Despite an incredible cast of terrific actors (whose performances, I have to admit, were mostly impressive), I could not wait for the movie to end so I could leave the theater. Despite my joking around on the way into the theater, not realizing how poorly spent those two hours of my life would be, perhaps I would have been better off if I'd accidentally taken a seat inide the wrong theater for a showing of "High School Musical 3" or "Beverly Hills Chihuahua." My life might have been richer for the experience.
What I'm saying is, don't bother. Much like the last few years of W's actual presidency, I simply sat there hoping it would end sooner than later, and that as few people would die while watching it as possible.
John McCain's concession speech was gracious and well spoken, and I feel like the "old" John McCain - the one I compared to Smeagol before he turned into Gollum - came back, even if only for an instant.
THIS was the John McCain I knew and liked up until about a year ago. If THIS John McCain had run for President, he might have won.
I still think someone in the RNC "got to" him somehow, and made him say things during the campaign that he didn't actually believe and didn't feel comfortable saying. I still think Sarah Palin was foisted upon him. I still think he deserves a better legacy than the one he'll be left with, given that many will remember him for his poorly-run, fear-based campaign against Barack Obama.
I'm sure we'll never learn all of the details, but I'd love for him to write a tell-all memoir of how the 2008 election actually played out from his side. I think it would be illuminating.
Whereas there seems to be a legitimate, palpable hatred of Obama by some on the far-right, I don't think a similar view was ever shared by the left about John McCain. On a personal level, I was disappointed by him, and I think he resorted to taking liberties with the truth on more than an occasion or two, but I never hated the guy. If anything, I felt a degree of sympathy for the poor bastard.
But I don't feel too sorry for others on the right who have decided in the wake of defeat to eat their own. As an observer from the outside looking in on the Republican party, watching them all blame everyone else is terrific entertainment. I wouldn't have thought twice about the allegations that Sarah Palin didn't know that Africa was a continent and not a country except that it was reported by Fox News. It may not be true, but it's a lot funnier to think that it is. And nobody will admit to responsibility for her wardrobe, either. The McCain campaign and the RNC both blame each other.
Some on the right even say that McCain lost because he wasn't conservative enough. So naturally, instead of voting for him, they decided to vote for "the most liberal Senator in history" instead?" Sure, why not ... if that's what you want to go with, guys, good luck.
And feel free to run Palin back out there in 2012, too. That'll be hilarious.
A side note: I'm actually starting to like Shepard Smith. I used to dislike him immensely, but he's actually grown on me a bit. Shep, my apologies - mostly.
From the (almost) "better late than never" collection:
"10 Sci-Fi Alternatives to Obama/McCain 08" (I'm particularly fond of Zod08)
Obama Headlines - 11/05/2008
Boston.com's "Big Picture" gallery of Obama photos
Change.gov
1 comment:
An impressively long post, Jim. If I was trying to be funny I would say "tell us how you REALLY think".
One thing that really pissed me off over the last 8 years was Democrats who believed (and displayed bumper stickers stating) that Bush was not their president. Yes he was, you divisive whiners.
I did not vote for Obama, for political reasons.
But he will be my president. I will teach my kids to respect him as the leader of our country, even if we disagree on some issues.
I am glad the election wasn't close, so we can move on as a country and fix the mess we're in.
Old Man Grimes
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