they're multiplyinnn. and i'm looooooooooosin contro-ol. cause the pow-werrrrrr you're supplyinnn. it's electrifyin!
i did. i got chills when they announced it. and i just watched obama's acceptance speech and teared up right here at my desk. (what? there was something in my eye...) i am thrilled to have an intelligent, eloquent, inspiring president again. i know he won't be able to keep all of his promises; that's just politics (and life), but today i'm optimistic about my country's future and my president-elect's ability to affect change. for the first time in 8 years, i'm pleased as punch, tickled pink (well, blue) and downright proud to be an american. (hopefully my roommates will still speak to me...maybe over bbq.)
god bless america.
see mccain's concession speech here. i hope that i would be as gracious if my candidate had lost.
19 comments:
Well I'm proud to call you my sister. Thank you for being a true believer in your candidate, rather than the band-wagon voters who speak of race and fame who may have decided the election. While an amazing accomplishment for African-Americans, as well as our country as a whole, to have a non anglo-saxton president, it saddens me that that is what headlines are reading this morning.
Oops. that was Abby that posted that comment, not Jeff...
Abby, why does it sadden you?
I agree that most elections are decided by so-called "bandwagon voters" (I am often one of them). But Obama's race (and Palin's gender, and a whole host of other elements in this race) are significant.
I guess I'm probably racist deep down inside, but I don't see that celebrating Obama's race as a sign of our country's current zeitgeist as a sad thing. Quite the opposite, really.
Have some pulled pork, and fill me in!
i see what you mean, ab. i can understand that its frusterating to have a presidential election hang on something as trivial as skin color, but i'm with rd on this one. i think that it IS significant. eventually, the papers will stop talking about that and start talking about his merits (or lack of, depending on your view). but i'd like to know what you think! why does it sadden you?
I think the bandwagon-ers I am referring to are those who aimlessly followed such "role models" as P. Diddy, Beyonce, and others rather than doing their research onthe issues and creating their own opinion before leiing their "voice" be heard, which is what voting is really all about.
I want it to be clear that I am in no way discrediting hte type of leader our new president-elect will be. I think he is a good man regardless of wether my vote was cast for or against him. I am also in no way trying to take any thunder away from this historic and happy day! I am exstatic about the fact we are going to have an african american president.
(I may have to further my soap box on my own blog, because trying to fit it into comment form is really hard.)
To me, using your fame to get people to do what you want is the same as me flashing a little leg to my boss to get a raise. Thank you P. Diddy for making voting cool again, but is it only cool if we vote how you would like us to???
Richard, I LOVED the post about by your friend. I incidentally read it before my first comment on here. Therefore, it must be said that I get equally annoyed by those who vote "republican" on the falicy that democrats want to "suck babies brains out," as I do with those who voted for the "black" one (a comment which I actually heard--and yes it was in the context of the presidential race).
exaclty how do you spell falicy? Did I spell it right?
excellent points, ab. people who ignorantly vote sadden me as well (even though i was one of them previously). its almost as if people think p-diddy is going to make you one of his entourage or paris will knock on your door and choose you for her best friend if you cast your vote a certain way. but then, as devil's advocate, i also think:
1-at least they voted. i'm glad that people in our generation finally stood up to that apathetic label we have and showed up at the polls. maybe they did it for the wrong reasons or ignorantly, but at least they did it.
2-this is sort of along the same lines as #1. i'm both awed and disgusted at the power that stars (and the media in general) have to sway peoples' opinions. disgusted because, like you, i think people should do their own research and be informed, not just blindly follow a role model, whoever it may be. i'm awed because these people recognize the power they have and are harnessing it for something they believe in. i may not like their methods or their candidate, but i give them props for attacking the apathy.
love you, sis. and your thoughts and perspective. i'm glad you voted and that you made an informed decision, whatever it was.
nyc pics comin soon. am workin on your birthday post and am excited for a buffalo thanksgiving!
i love this post, annie, and i felt the same. finally, a ray of hope.
Interesting comments and great points made on all sides. As I was reading I felt myself teetering to the side of cousins post I was reading at the time. For what it's worth here is my opinion.
I thought both campaigns did a great job of keeping the race issue to a minimum. I thought the media even did a decent job of this until election day. However, the race issue is a real issue that crossed everyones mind wether or not it swayed their vote. If there is blame to be placed, it should go to the P-Diddy's out there. Celebrity endorsements should carry no more weight than anyone else's. Unfortunately that's not the case. I liked Carrie Underwood's opinion (paraphrasing), "I don't think celebrities should publicly endorse political candidates. I'm a professional singer not a polititian."
I had no problem with the media plastering it all over the headlines after the fact because it really is a big deal. It is a news-worthy story. I am enjoying the history of it.
I'm thrilled that we could finally participate in this historically significant moment in American history! And I'm pleased that McCain went down with such grace. His most recent behavior and Obama's right now are the stuff of heroes. Lots of high fives from my Latino students today.
Ab - fallacy
If Obama were nothing more than a racial candidate, it would be sad. But he ran a post-racial campaign that did not focus on him as the "black" candidate, but rather a candidate who happened to be black.
I didn't think the headlines that trumpeted the fact that we'd elected our first African-American president were out of place. The significance of this moment is pretty monumental. Just look at the people who were reduced to tears over it, a crowd as ideologically diverse as Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and Jesse Jackson. The mother of my colleague in the next office over couldn't attended a segregated school and couldn't vote for years because she was black. Regardless of politics, we should all take in the profound significance of this occasion.
McCain was absolutely magnanimous in his concession speech (I was moved by him and started wondering where that McCain was on the campaign trail this fall).
One last thing, there will always be bandwagoners (ummm... Heidi Montag anyone?), but I don't think they diminish the candidate.
What I heard Abby saying is that it's sad that we were ever in a place where we had to overcome the race issue in the first place. We still have a lot of work to do in a number of areas, but this progress is very encouraging.
I'm not sure where my second comment went. Here's my best reconstruction:
abbyjane: Thanks for responding and clarifying. I did misunderstand your initial comment, so I'm grateful for the amplification.
I agree with you that the ideal would be for everyone to be informed and make utterly logical, totally rational decisions. I don't know a single person who does this, though, so I take what I can get.
And whether I dig his music or not, I'd rather one Sean Combs —an incredibly industrious and savvy self-made businessman, incidentally— using his fame to encourage people to vote than 1000 corporate lobbyists.
marc, annie, lauren marjory, t & a, nicea: right on.
Richard, are you not allowing comments over on Fofee?
We do of course have Diddy to thank (at least partially) for arousing young voters. And I am surprisingly more excited than I thought I'd be about the up coming four--could be eight--years. I really really do understand what an historic, momentous, event this is. Obama is going down in the history (as does every leader of our country), but NEVER to be forgotten--ever. His name will not get mixed up among the Hoovers, Jacksons, and Bushes of our past.
SERIOUSLY where was that McCain through out the last several months??? I would've liked to se more of him, that's for sure.
Interesting thing I heard on the news today ... the younger generation represented 11% of voters ... the exact same percentage as in 2004. I haven't verified the statistic, but if it is true it would be interesting.
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