The Lay Of The Land
The vote plugs along all across the nation. My wife and I have cancelled out John and Cindy McCain’s votes, so we got that going for us. Take that Grumpy John.
I have talked to Marcy a couple of times and things are good where she was stationed. One of the calls was literally because she was bored, so there are certainly no shenanigans afoot. Turnout heavy there too, and she reports noticeably elevated levels of youth turnout.
That is what I am hearing from friends around the greater Phoenix valley as well. High turnout; elevated youth and minority turnout. You gotta love it. Win, lose or draw, seeing participatory democracy in action is awe inspiring. I honestly, I swear, can see in the eyes of every bit of the public i have encountered today an expression and look of hope and excitement. A look that has been largely absent since 9/11.
And that is what it, and today, is all about. The President, and whatever man holds that job, really has limited powers in many regards. Can sure screw things up royally, we have seen that power, but as far as the affirmative power to transform our society, that physical capability is fairly limited. But, put the right guy, at the right time, in the job; a guy that has the power to lead, to inspire, to motivate – well then you have something special. We, hopefully, are on the cusp of just that.
Barack Obama, irrespective of the policy specifics that we may each agree or disagree with, is a leader. He is a motivator. He brings hope. And there lies the real power; the power to get people moving and believing again. And that is what we need. The Republicans are right, America is exceptional when it is motivated and joined in the battle at hand. George Bush and the Republicans have sapped so much of that out of us at this point that we are in dire straits.
Today that changes. Today the switch is flipped. Get fired up! Get ready to go! Let’s rock and roll folks!
YEEEEEEAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Damn it’s tough sitting on the bench here in Canada while this is all going on! Would love to be part of it!
You are part of it, Ishmael. More than most.
Awww, shucks! It’s just that I always do poll captaining and poll observing and so forth whenever there’s an election in Canada, but it’s usually uneventful except for getting out the party vote – it would be something to be actually on the ground at a polling station where you could really be part of something historic and fight the vote suppressors.
It’s to our everlasting shame in this country that we HAVE vote suppressors.
I know exactly how you feel … have to get by watching Tweety & KO …
c and l has the ko final
cheer up. you’re gonna have the energy to celebrate
people who are “In It” around here are gonna drop from exhaustion before the champagne really starts flowing
me and my girlfriend voted and that cancels Cheney with his wife so that takes care of that
now who canceled Lyn Chaney’s vote?
Fired up?
Ready to go!
Interesting coverage here – digby, greenwald, et al. –
http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/
the first lady gets a raw deal;
not gonna be a happy birthday
Me, my wife, and my two voting age kids cancelled out George, Laura, and the twins. I don’t feel much better, though…
Did Jenna vote for McCain ? She seemed unsure a while back …
I’m assuming she got ‘talked to’. Doesn’t much matter since Texas will go for McCain. On the other hand, time and demographic change will make this state become more competitive. Maybe by 2016, we’ll be a battleground state.
Has Masaccio checked in from Ohio yet? I thought he was doing poll work there……
Just finished my second Corona…
For most of my Red Sox life, I have taken nothing for granted.
I don’t like to be hurt or disappointed, definitely a sensitive sixties, girlie man…
But, I sense such an outpouring of hope…
I’m thinking our long, dark nightmare is ending….
I can’t wait to hoist a victory salute to our democratic ideals…
Great post Bmaz.
Barack Obama has run the campaign we have been dreaming that a Dem would run.
This is truly a great moment, the whole world is watching!
Oddly, he was my second choice – I thought that Edwards would run the true progressive campaign – and look how that turned out. I also thought that Edwards was the guy the Republicans LEAST wanted to run against.
You and me both about Edwards … Barack’s ground game was great. I think there was a whisper campaign about Edwards’ infidelity and that capped his contributions and campaign.
Thing about leadership: it makes the changes WOckham suggests. LBJohnson got snookered into the VPresidential slot, at a time when the Democratic Party of TX was influential throughout the southeast and beyond, along the rim of the RioGrande. If we get a sensible MX, latinamerica, southamerica policy during the next administration, look for TX to resume some of its diversity and bipartisan importance. Roberts and Alito supported one wild gerrymander among the several districts they seined in the Lulac v Perry suit 05–204* argued March 1, 2006 decided June 28 that year, the ethnic minorities got one elongated distract back; first the section 5 oversight from the voting division at DoJ needs modernizing. That is one difference a Democratic Party administration will bring that machine Republicanism by McCainPalin would seek to continue to avoid with more obfuscation, even with the likes of Gerry Hebert on their campaign advisory panel; if McCainPalin win, look for Hebert and company to be sent back to Constitutional Law Center to go figure for 4MoreYrs, even though they led some of the resistance which eventually joined with Lulac when the several cases combined for Scotus argument. I wonder if Ann Richards [R.I.P.] trained some locals in comedy as her heritage.
____
*For some reason, I found a link with an Akamai server in the pathname. Paul Smith’s argument was worth a read on Lulac’s behalf, too, try Scotus for link.
Everybody in this town cancelled out Heather Wilson in the primaries.
I’m usually pretty good about putting stuff aside and doing what I have to do. But today’s been a washout… accomplished nothing. We even cancelled our weekly night out on the Jitterbug floor tonight.
Wish I had a fast forward button.