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Nov. 5th, 2008 01:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
zanzjanOkay, I lied, I stayed up to watch Obama's speech as well.
My Elder Daughter asked me an interesting question in the car on the way home this afternoon: if I'd known that Obama was going to be the Democrat nominee, and was likely to win the election, would I have changed who I voted for in the primary?
The answer is no. And no, I didn't vote for Obama in the primary. I didn't vote for Hillary either, so there. I voted for Kucinich, even though I knew he didn't have a shot in hell of winning the party nomination, because I wanted it on record that there was one more person that stood behind Kucinich's positions on the issues in the hope that when we did have a nominee, those voices would not be entirely discounted.
Having said that, yes I'm thrilled Obama has been elected. Do I think he's going to solve all (or even most) of our problems? Probably not. Heck, there's always a chance he'll turn out to be another useless disappointment like Deval Patrick. I do hope that he'll make progress towards solving at least a few of the catastrophic issues we are facing, and put us on a path to solving more. I feel like our civilization -- by which I mean not just America, but humanity -- is standing right at the edge of a cliff, having drunkenly stumbled our way up here by means of a combination of short-sighted decisions, whim, and a certain hostile contrariness that manifests as an abject failure to consider our own best interests. I honestly believe McCain would have, if not leapt us right off that edge, still brought us to where we'd fall. I believe he would have gotten us into a war with Iran. I believe he would've lacked the political will, flexibility, and insight to move us away from oil and other non-renewable energy sources. I believe the middle class would've dwindled even further as the division between the haves and the have-nots grew wider. I don't know that I think he really gave a crap about most of us, that we are anything more than just background noise and static to him. I do think he cares deeply about America and believed he would do right by it, but I think his idea of what is good for America is what is mostly good for big business and other people with power and influence. People who, y'know, don't actually know off-hand how many houses they own. So yes, believing that of McCain, how could I not be thrilled for a Democratic victory, especially one that as an aside refutes that idea that racism could triumph over reason, that fearmongering could triumph over hope, that isolationism could be better for our nation than cooperation?
So yeah, I'm not especially convinced that Obama's going to get us free and clear from that metaphorical cliff which represents the slow demise of our economy, our environment, and our ideals and our commitments to civil and human rights. But if he takes us even just one step away from that edge, that's something significant. What I see as the greatest potential of the Obama presidency is not so much those things he himself might accomplish, but the fact that he inspires people. He has given a lot of people hope again. He makes us feel like we can in fact do what needs to be done. And, you know, if enough of us believe that, if we buy into the crazy idea that we can in fact change the future by working together, just maybe we will do exactly that. And that, really, is what we need now more than anything else.
My Elder Daughter asked me an interesting question in the car on the way home this afternoon: if I'd known that Obama was going to be the Democrat nominee, and was likely to win the election, would I have changed who I voted for in the primary?
The answer is no. And no, I didn't vote for Obama in the primary. I didn't vote for Hillary either, so there. I voted for Kucinich, even though I knew he didn't have a shot in hell of winning the party nomination, because I wanted it on record that there was one more person that stood behind Kucinich's positions on the issues in the hope that when we did have a nominee, those voices would not be entirely discounted.
Having said that, yes I'm thrilled Obama has been elected. Do I think he's going to solve all (or even most) of our problems? Probably not. Heck, there's always a chance he'll turn out to be another useless disappointment like Deval Patrick. I do hope that he'll make progress towards solving at least a few of the catastrophic issues we are facing, and put us on a path to solving more. I feel like our civilization -- by which I mean not just America, but humanity -- is standing right at the edge of a cliff, having drunkenly stumbled our way up here by means of a combination of short-sighted decisions, whim, and a certain hostile contrariness that manifests as an abject failure to consider our own best interests. I honestly believe McCain would have, if not leapt us right off that edge, still brought us to where we'd fall. I believe he would have gotten us into a war with Iran. I believe he would've lacked the political will, flexibility, and insight to move us away from oil and other non-renewable energy sources. I believe the middle class would've dwindled even further as the division between the haves and the have-nots grew wider. I don't know that I think he really gave a crap about most of us, that we are anything more than just background noise and static to him. I do think he cares deeply about America and believed he would do right by it, but I think his idea of what is good for America is what is mostly good for big business and other people with power and influence. People who, y'know, don't actually know off-hand how many houses they own. So yes, believing that of McCain, how could I not be thrilled for a Democratic victory, especially one that as an aside refutes that idea that racism could triumph over reason, that fearmongering could triumph over hope, that isolationism could be better for our nation than cooperation?
So yeah, I'm not especially convinced that Obama's going to get us free and clear from that metaphorical cliff which represents the slow demise of our economy, our environment, and our ideals and our commitments to civil and human rights. But if he takes us even just one step away from that edge, that's something significant. What I see as the greatest potential of the Obama presidency is not so much those things he himself might accomplish, but the fact that he inspires people. He has given a lot of people hope again. He makes us feel like we can in fact do what needs to be done. And, you know, if enough of us believe that, if we buy into the crazy idea that we can in fact change the future by working together, just maybe we will do exactly that. And that, really, is what we need now more than anything else.
