Post-Election & Pre-Inaugural Whoopies and Weepies

January 18, 2009

Thanks to Ruben Rocha for finding this editorial cartoon. It makes me smile. For the past couple of months since this historic election, I have been emotional. I still get misty watching the “Yes We Can” video. Even though I will never forget the evening of November 4th, 2008, I am continue to be drawn to video of the moment the California polls closed and the declaration of Barack Obama as our 44th president flashed on television screens around the world. It transports me to that day and night again.

The morning of November 4th, 2008 was a bright and chrisp day in Marinwood. I was the 105th voter at the Marinwood Community Center polling place. I totally get the whole “vote-by-mail” movement and completely support it. My family has the luxury of being in a precinct that has plenty of volunteers and voting booths. Voting as a family in person imprints on our son the importance of voting.

Speaking about my son and voting — my son’s pre-school class at Marin Day School at St. Vincent’s voted 10-3 for Obama a day before the election.

One of the great things about having to write endorsements is that it makes voting pretty easy. I was able to vote for my Facebook friend, Mark Leno (Ah…California where you can be Gay and be a State Senator, but cannot legally marry.) and my favorite State Assemblyman, Jared Huffman. Most importantly, I was able to fill in the bubble for Barack Obama for President. I walked out of the polling place much like I did in the primaries, being so uplifted voting for the best person, not merely voting against a person. Then I went to work and completed everything I needed before the workday ended, but the nervousness started to become unbearable. I got off work and ordered Chinese Food and talked to my sister who was then working and living in Florida after being laid off in Austin.

I was nervous because I have been burned before betting on the Democratic candidate. My first campaign I worked on was Mondale and that election return was pretty brutal. Except for 92 and 96, all I have tasted is the bitter tears of disappointment. I worried that all the republican defections, the positive polls, and major gaffes by the Mccain campaign was some Jedi mind-trick. I worried the election would be stolen from us. I tried to stay positive, but supporting democratic candidates means you are expert with preparing for soul-crushing defeat and unfamiliar with that thing called…victory.

We ate Chinese Food and watched the results coming in from the East Coast. I made a White Russian cocktail as a nod to Sarah Palin’s foreign policy experience. We had a friend over who was responsible for getting me to take another look at Obama way back in January 2008. It was very, very wonderful to have her and her son over sharing this night with us.

It struck me that I you paid attention to the polls in the couple weeks before the election, there were no surprises.

When Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, and Virginia went to Obama it became pretty clear that Obama would win. On CNN they had someone pointing out that if Mccain won all the Western states he would still only get 266 — short of the 270 to win. 8:00 pm couldn’t come quickly enough as it became clear that when California polls close they would announce that Obama has won the presidency. We had our sons making a chocolate cake and were decorating it with blue and red sparkles. I had a bottle of champagne waiting to be popped at the very moment CNN announced the polls closed. We did the countdown and popped the bottle at exactly the perfect moment.

We called my friend’s mother in Cape Town, South Africa and she was delighted.

Finally, after so many years we Americans got together to do the right thing. It is about time!

I would have been content with a squeaker election where Obama just barely won, because a win is a win is a win. What we had here was a landslide election for a democrat — nevermind for the first African-American nominee for President of the United States. He did it because of who he is as a person and he ran a flawless campaign. What got me is how he was the first candidate that captured the imagination of young people and got them out to vote. What got me was his ability to inspire artists. When Obama lost in New Hampshire he delivered a speech that would inspire Will.i.am to create a stirring music video. When have we witnessed a political candidate that could do that before?

Our nation is facing one of its darkest hours with layoffs, war, global warming, foreclosures, staggering debt, ecological threats, our Bill of Rights in tatters, and a tarnished reputation. Fortunately, we get to face all these challenges with new president who possesses the temperament, intellect, leadership skills to rescue a country that was run into a ditch by Bush Junior.

Tuesday morning I will shed tears of joy and perhaps a little sorrow for all that we have had to go though these past 8 years. 9/11, Enron, the California Energy Crisis, Gitmo, Iraq, Katrina, Wiretapping, and the entire weight of the hubris, ignorance, lies, incompetence, brutality, and greed that was the long national nightmare of the Bush-Cheney era.

Tuesday will be infused with happiness, hope, and overwhelming pride at what we, the American people have done.

Special thanks to all of us in Marin who came out so strongly for Obama that we were assigned to call the swing states.

Let’s celebrate until we need to get back to work for change.

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