The results are in, and I’m not talking about last week’s (okay, I am, sort of). I’m talking the results from the electorate. The people on facebook and myspace who write notes, the neighbors I meet, and the friends who text me.
I have seen a grand total of three statements that offer a “Good game, nice win for Obama, wish we could have won, but he’ll be our President soon” statements that seem to offer a gracious concession. I’d go into a manual recount of these statements, but ever since 2000 the term “recount” has the ability to send me into toxic shock.
On the other side, a significant majority of statements, stories, texts, videos, and anecdotal account, have upped my heartburn levels. These haven’t even been conciliatory. They haven’t been well-worded or intelligent. Hell, they haven’t even nice. I’ve seen predictions that come January 20th we’ll all be working in gulags, I’ve heard rumors about Muslims taking over this country, I’ve seen photoshopped images showing Obama up in front of a hammer and sickle, I’ve heard stories of the far right-wing wanting to move. I’ve heard people saying that now the blacks will enslave white people. Yes, you read that right.
Oh, and the racist jokes, too. I’ve seen countless racist jokes.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury of the court of public opinion, I submit to you that this is just plain ignorant, and the prosecution rests.
I jest, of course, as most people know I never rest when I have the opportunity to ramble.
But this brings me to my point. Obama, sadly, seems to have been correct during his acceptance speech when he said that the only other time we were more divided was the last time a young, upstart senator from Illinois was running to be the President (for you people who failed American History, that would be Lincoln).
I remember in 2004, when I voted for Not-Bush (what was his name again? I forget…). After the results were in, anybody who supported Not-Bush had to admit defeat, and worse, admit to four more years of Not-Not-Bush. I was saddened, but I accepted it. The electorate had spoken, and majority rules in this country (to an extent). I wasn’t happy about that fact, but I accepted it, because, after all, he was my President (and still is for a few more months). Despite my not liking him or his policies, he is the President of this country, and I accept that fact. Yes, I can make fun, have a laugh at his expense, but at the end of election day in 2004, I had to admit that it was over and we would move on. Somehow, we would move on, and most importantly, we would move on together, as one unified country. Maybe not in the direction I had hoped for (and Katrina, Gitmo, Housing bubble, Credit Crunch & Bailout, and other failures sure made it clear to me that this ship of State was was being captained startlingly close to a freakin’ waterfall).
I remember reading in 2004 a long-winded open-letter style joke, written from the Blue States to the Red. Basically, the joke was “We’re seceding, and we get most of the money, industry, most of the food production, you get Alabama.” Here’s the link, if you’d like to take a look.
It was amusing when I first read it, but the joke worried me. As an example to the “red states” that the Blue states are still part of “Real America”, I think this joke made it’s point, that the Blue states have a great deal to offer this country and while they may not have “small-town values” (which I’m convinced is completely meaningless considering how many small-towns I’ve been to that don’t adhere to their values), they are centers of culture and prosperity of our country. And what of the Red? It’s certainly not all bad, even though I live in Oklahoma. Some of the most beautiful parts of our country are smack-dab in the middle, and there is still a significant amount of culture, history, and yes, even some small-town values and down-to-earth people to be had in middle America.
But my problem was that this joke made light of our divisiveness. It basically said “Fine, let’s be two countries, and you can suck it.” This, obviously, is not the right option. We are the United States of America, and that first word in our name should be the thing we remind ourselves every time we want to turn our words against ourselves.
Obama spent a great deal of time during his acceptance speech talking about the rift between blue states and red states in this country. I’m with Scott McClellan (former Press Secretary to the Bush White House) on this one, and that of the two candidates, Obama has the greatest chance of changing the tone in Washington, and it’s one of the key reasons Obama got my vote. This may even be, at this point in history, more important than policy, though I’m not necessarily convinced this is true. He played a relatively fair, clean campaign (at least compared to some others throughout history, and yes, I do admit that Obama had his dirty tricks and jabs), and his speech as President-elect was a clear attempt to unite. That’s a good sign to me.
Now, I’m no Obama acolyte. I don’t think he’s the Messiah, or the One, or even Superman. He’s a fallable, inexperienced human who is certainly capable of mistakes, and worse yet, capable of allowing himself to be absorbed and assimilated by Washington, only to become that which us libertarians hate. I refused to trust him, inherently, because he is a politician, and he must do a lot of work to prove to me, and I would imagine many others, that he is not just talk, not just pretty words, but is actual action, and a force for positive change in the tone of our government and our country. Had McCain been elected, I would be saying this exact same statement.
I don’t even care about policy right now (except maybe economics and a balanced budget), I care not about terrorism or war, I only care about doing the one thing that will allow us to fix all these problems in the next term, possibly two terms, and subsequent administrations. We have to change the tone, we have to stop treating our own people as enemies, and we have to start acting like we are actually the United States of America, because the Divided States of America will fall like a house of cards. Obama stands a slim chance, but I think a better one than McCain, of making this one change happen.
The Rush Limbaughs and Ron P. Reagans of the world need to turn off their transmitters. The Anne Coulters and Al Frankens need to lay down their pens. The Evan Coyne Maloneys and Michael Moores need to put away their cameras. (But for the love of God, Steven Colbert and Jon Stewart, please don’t stop, you’ve been the only things keeping me laughing all of these years). Every single one of you are doing your part to hurt America, you’re killing this country, and you are causing us to further divide. As a country, we should be willing to celebrate our differences, but not at the expense of reveling in our Unity.
Moderates make up the majority of this country. Those registered “Independent” or without party affiliation make up almost one third. We are not who you think we are anymore. This country is not, and I would argue probably never has been, a politically divided ideological battleground. Please, for the love of god, stop trying to turn it into one. Quit trying to push us to one side or the other, because I don’t believe it can possibly end well.
I for one, am cautiously optimistic, that Obama can lead us to this… and you’ll pardon my use of the abused word… “change”. Here’s to four years of hope for that change.
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