I fell asleep before the election results were over. I did not want to be awake if McCain won.
The young black people screaming outside my window woke me up later on. It was around 11:30 pm. Well, I thought sleepily. This is history.
The next day, I watched a very interesting program on C-SPAN where the chairmen for the Republican and Democratic National Committees participated in a Q&A session hosted by the National Press Club.
Republican Chairman Mike Duncan was understandably upset, and he referenced a story about "Lincoln's young boy stubbing his toe" that I'm not familiar with: "It hurts too bad to laugh and I'm too big to cry." Duncan pointed out a few things he felt contributed to Obama's smashing win over McCain, including the sheer amount of money that the Democratic party had access to. He stated that the Democrats outspent Republicans "3 or 4 to 1" in battleground states. (Are we supposed to feel bad about that? Like THEY wouldn't have done the same thing if they had gotten as much support???)
Duncan also summarized some of Obama's campaign promises, and commented, "Put simply, Barack Obama just ran the most successful moderate Republican Presidential campaign since Dwight Eisenhower." He received a room full of laughter.
Howard Dean, the Chairman for the Democratic National Committee (and who ran for President 4 years ago), took the stage and said something beautiful about Obama's win. "As a nation, I think what we did was choose hope over fear, we chose the future over the past, we chose unity over division."
I needed to hear that. I want to believe in that.
Every upset Republican I've talked to is worried about one thing: their pocketbook. They are convinced that Obama is going to raise taxes and take some of their precious money away.
Nevermind that the Republicans have spent the past five+ years championing a senseless, endless war that we simply cannot afford. Where did they think we would get the money to pay for the war tab? This absence of fundamental planning boggles the mind, and the lack of concern over the mental health of our sent-and-return-again soldiers has incensed me. YES, these men and women are strong. YES, these men and women are brave. They are also human beings who were not designed to endure this sort of mental trauma. And certainly not over, and over, and over again. I am particularly furious about the treatment of our troops, let me tell you.
I watched a press meeting with Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House. She said the Republican members of Congress had been working together to repeatedly block legislation to "protect" Bush from performing a veto. She explained that if an agenda reaches the President and he vetoes it, the whole world knows about it. But, if it gets blocked by the Senate, only a few people know about it. She said some of the agendas that have hit this "Republican obstacle" have included things like the withdrawal date for our troops in Iraq, another stimulus package, and an unemployment insurance extension.
With at least 5 new seats being changed to Democrats, I am expecting to see some real action now!
One final thing to ponder - Howard Dean also mentioned that the Democrats as well as the Republicans have access to everyone's credit card data. He said that they could predict with 85% accuracy who we will vote for based on these data. Be careful what you buy!
-TEA
The young black people screaming outside my window woke me up later on. It was around 11:30 pm. Well, I thought sleepily. This is history.
The next day, I watched a very interesting program on C-SPAN where the chairmen for the Republican and Democratic National Committees participated in a Q&A session hosted by the National Press Club.
Republican Chairman Mike Duncan was understandably upset, and he referenced a story about "Lincoln's young boy stubbing his toe" that I'm not familiar with: "It hurts too bad to laugh and I'm too big to cry." Duncan pointed out a few things he felt contributed to Obama's smashing win over McCain, including the sheer amount of money that the Democratic party had access to. He stated that the Democrats outspent Republicans "3 or 4 to 1" in battleground states. (Are we supposed to feel bad about that? Like THEY wouldn't have done the same thing if they had gotten as much support???)
Duncan also summarized some of Obama's campaign promises, and commented, "Put simply, Barack Obama just ran the most successful moderate Republican Presidential campaign since Dwight Eisenhower." He received a room full of laughter.
Howard Dean, the Chairman for the Democratic National Committee (and who ran for President 4 years ago), took the stage and said something beautiful about Obama's win. "As a nation, I think what we did was choose hope over fear, we chose the future over the past, we chose unity over division."
I needed to hear that. I want to believe in that.
Every upset Republican I've talked to is worried about one thing: their pocketbook. They are convinced that Obama is going to raise taxes and take some of their precious money away.
Nevermind that the Republicans have spent the past five+ years championing a senseless, endless war that we simply cannot afford. Where did they think we would get the money to pay for the war tab? This absence of fundamental planning boggles the mind, and the lack of concern over the mental health of our sent-and-return-again soldiers has incensed me. YES, these men and women are strong. YES, these men and women are brave. They are also human beings who were not designed to endure this sort of mental trauma. And certainly not over, and over, and over again. I am particularly furious about the treatment of our troops, let me tell you.
I watched a press meeting with Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House. She said the Republican members of Congress had been working together to repeatedly block legislation to "protect" Bush from performing a veto. She explained that if an agenda reaches the President and he vetoes it, the whole world knows about it. But, if it gets blocked by the Senate, only a few people know about it. She said some of the agendas that have hit this "Republican obstacle" have included things like the withdrawal date for our troops in Iraq, another stimulus package, and an unemployment insurance extension.
With at least 5 new seats being changed to Democrats, I am expecting to see some real action now!
One final thing to ponder - Howard Dean also mentioned that the Democrats as well as the Republicans have access to everyone's credit card data. He said that they could predict with 85% accuracy who we will vote for based on these data. Be careful what you buy!
-TEA
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