GoldbergBlog

As this unforgettable week winds to a close, I wanted to ponder what had come of the 2008 Election, not just in the Presidential race, but in the Senate and propositions.  Now the pondering is done.  Let’s kick it Leone Style:

The Good

(actually, scratch that).

THE EXCELLENT

Yes, We Can:  The 44th President of the United States is Barack Obama.  Our President’s name is Barack Obama.  How cool is that?  President Obama.  Nothing makes me feel more like we’re finally in the 21st century than that.

Of course, now he has a monumental task ahead of him.  What makes (or at least should make) progressives different than conservatives is that we’re not cheerleaders.  We’re totally psyched for this occasion and couldn’t be happier about his election, but we’re going to call him on the decisions we don’t agree with.  We know that patriotism is actively participating in a democracy and making sure your voice is heard, especially when you disagree with your leader.

But Obama wasn’t the only one elected on Tuesday night.  Everyone who voted for him was elected.  Actually, they were elected the second they donated to his campaign or put out a sign or did anything to actively help his campaign because guess what: Barack Obama is not Bagger Vance.  He’s not the magical negro (contrary to what Rush Limbaugh would like to spew) who’s going to help us with our golf game and our economy.  We were recruited to make this country better and that commitment didn’t end at the ballot box.

THE GOOD

The Senate: The Democrats picked up seven Senate seats with three more still at a toss-up.  I pray that Al Franken wins, not just because he’s a comedian and that would be amazing, but because he’s a strong progressive and I want that kind of voice in the Senate.

Ted Stevens:  Alaska will probably re-elect convicted felon Ted Stevens.  Since the Democrats will probably not make it to the filibuster-proof majority anyway, I say let them and show how batshit insane their state really is.  Plus, it makes all the Republicans squirm to have that smear of a person attached to their party and they’ll probably want to get rid of him as much as Democrats.  Still, Alaska looks to have had some major voting irregularities this past Tuesday, as election guru Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight pointed out.

Nate Silver and FiveThirtyEight.com: Which leads me to my next point: Silver was one of the heroes of this election.  He glided through a tidal waves of statistics and helped make sense of it all.  There’s a reason he came closer than almost any pundit in predicting the outcome of this election. The only place he was wrong was Indiana.

Indiana:  Talk to some from Indiana and they’ll tell you how unbelievable it is that their state went blue.  This is a state that Bush won by twenty points in 2004.  It’s surely to their credit that enough people in that state realized how horribly things had turned over the past four years and they didn’t make a commitment to party but to country.  I hope Obama will earn their vote again 2012.

The Youth Vote: The vote?  We finally rocked it.  I don’t know what happened in 2004 but I think I know what happened in 2008: 1) the utilization of social networking and 2) They were excited to vote for Obama and not simply against McCain.

McCain’s Concession Speech:  Perhaps the first step in returning to the man we all know he can be and not this cynical shell we saw throughout this election.

THE BAD

Georgia:  First, we weren’t able to turn the state blue.  Granted, the networks weren’t able to call us red the second the polls closed, but still, there was a faint glimmer of hope that we weren’t all a bunch of dumb crackers.  Georgia is going to a run-off.  I will vote in that run-off election because I think Saxby Chambliss is a disgusting, sorry excuse for a human being who runs the ugliest campaigns possible.  However, I don’t think his opponent, Jim Martin, will win.  I just don’t see everyone coming back to the polls on December 2nd and without a massive organization effort and lot more money, Chambliss will probably retain his seat.

THE UGLY

Prop 8: Californians let the Chuch of Latter-Day Saints come in and write hate into their constitution.  For homosexual Democrats, this week must have been one of mixed emotions.  It must have been wonderful to see Obama elected and it must be crushing to have Prop 8 pass.

What made Prop 8 worse than previous gay marriage bans is that it was the first to actually strip away rights.  The election of Barack Obama is a major step forward for African-Americans but the vote of “Yes” on Prop 8 is a major step backwards for America.  LGBT rights are the next great civil rights battle and while Tuesday was a dark day in that fight, it will continue and those who discriminate will lose because homosexuals aren’t going anywhere and bigots die out.

Tags: politics //