Landslide Victory

One of the determining factors behind Barack Obama’s presidential victory was that he managed to convince my generation that our votes actually mattered. Not just votes for him, but votes for his rival John McCain and anyone else in the running to be elected president of the United States. So thank God I decided to send in an absentee ballot. Originally I got an absentee ballot because I didn’t want to go through the trouble of trying to change my address, but I got the additional bonus of avoiding the ridiculous lines at the polls. This gave me the opportunity to kick back and watch some of the TV news coverage of the presidential election.
All I can say is that CNN dominated. I tried channel-surfing between CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC for the purposes of this blog, but found myself irresistibly drawn to CNN. They put up the news I wanted to know, and didn’t add anything unnecessary or extra (at least, not for the duration of the election—but come on, a Will-I-Am hologram? How was that relevant?) I loved the ticker at the bottom that showed minute updates of the status of the presidential, gubernatorial and senatorial elections in each state. The “projections” confused me at first, especially when a state only had less than 10 percent of their vote in because I thought CNN’s projections were what actually happened. Once I grew used to it, however, I didn’t mind that much. I stayed up until 4 am watching the coverage. I didn’t want to miss anything.

I rocked the vote.

So my first experience voting in a presidential election turned out to be a bit different than I had expected.
I found out Thursday night that The State News had gotten a credential to go see Obama speak in Chicago's Grant Park, and I was the one who would be going to cover it. I was uber excited to get to go witness history. Then I realized I wouldn't be in EL to vote.
So, after a long night of Halloween festivities, I trekked down to the Secretary of State's office to find out how to vote early. The place was packed and there were several small, loud children dressed as bumblebees and witches wandering the room. Not exactly the environment you want to be in when you're already feeling a bit under the weather.
After waiting for an hour and a half, I was told that all I had to do was go to the City Clerk's office and cast an early ballot. After kicking myself for waiting so long only to be told there was a much simpler option, I headed over to City Hall.
Voting early definitely doesn't have the same allure as voting on election day. I cast the same ballot and still got an "I Voted" sticker, but it lacked the feeling of solidarity that comes with standing in a line of tens of other voters who have made the effort to participate in democracy.
Also, Michigan was such a blowout that I'm pretty sure the poll workers didn't bother to process the absentee ballots.
But then again, I did get to witness history. I guess I can deal with a less-than-amazing first voting experience.

Barack to the Future

“The next time they give you all that civic bullshit about voting, keep in mind that Hitler was elected in a full, free democratic election”

-Geore Carlin

So I went and voted the other day, a fine fall morning. I heard on the news that earlier in the day the polling places were packed, but by the time I got to the polling place there were few lines. However, I also noticed that all of the people that worked at the polling booth looked about the same age as my grandmother, and were working incredibly slowly. That is, if the lines had been longer, which they were earlier in the day, before I got there at ten, then there would have been an extraordinarily long line due to the slowness of the workers.
Then my grandmother, who drove me to the voting place, left me there. Yes, she didn't see me in the parking lot or outside of any of the voting booths (I was still voting), and decided to leave. I did not understand the logic, but I did call her phone and she picked me up in short order. i think I would have been far angrier except it was a nice day, and there's a good chance my grandmother is going senile.
I was working all day on various other projects, so I did not get the chance to view much of the election coverage. However, I did see one thing on Fox News that I feel sums up my feelings about both the network and my views on the media. They were in Philadelphia at the back of a long line, and one of the reporters said that the people could be waiting for an hour and a half. Many of the people turned around in anger, some mouthing obscenities. I laughed and thought of the old people.

Barracking On Since '08

I think that I have come down enough from my victory high and this emotional process that has been going on for the past 30 hours, enough to compile some lucid thoughts about yesterday and today. I personally had no wait at my polling place. I got there around 8:30 am (after the pre-work rush) and was voter number 191, which is around 100 more people votes than all day in local elections. I promptly came home and applied my temporary tattoo to my wrist that features a head shot of Obama. At my bowling league last night some man wanted to turn on election results, and some woman was freaking out and demanding the Red Wings be put on. The humor in the irony that everyone else wanted to watch election coverage, but that this one loose canon wanted to watch hockey and therefore that remained on, did little to console my rage at general political ignorance. (p.s. the Red Wings weren't on). She shouted at the man that he "probably voted for that idiot Obama, too" which lucky for her I didn't hear. Fortunately, most people I know voted, in fact I only heard of three all day that didn't. Subsequently, those people are dead to me. I cannot even fathom how someone would just not have voted yesterday. I believe that it is far better to vote against what I personally believe in, than to not vote at all. Overall, I was pleased with the informed voters in my life. What was most surprising yesterday was how soon the results were announced. I was in it for the long haul last night, and was shocked at the unevenness of the electoral votes. What I was also surprised about it that I felt bad for John and Cindy (not that 1950's replica of an educated woman, Palin). I thought that his speech was sincere and consoling and realized that if he had been elected, I would have been substantially more happy than I have been these miserable eight years. Obama's speech was second to none, however. It was magnificent. He did not gloat or become overly emotional. He was solid and I hope instilled others with as much faith and confidence in him as I have. I teared up while listening to it and automatically feel much safer and have hope for the future. I feel like we will now be using our powers for good instead of evil. To not end on too sentimental of a note, I'd like to say that Barack is our first bi-racial president. He's black and white. Get it right. I realize the importance of this moment and sincerely hope that his election does more to unify. This is in response to a comment I heard yesterday that "once Barack is elected, the first thing I'm going to do is punch a white person," said by some southern black person. Let's not go there. I hope this wasn't supposed to be unbiased.

Talking Heads

Election day had finally rolled around, but for me, it wasn't something I had to gear up for, because I had voted a couple weeks ago, so my contribution to the election was taken care of. However, having that free time allowed me to take in all of the different coverage the news networks were whipping up all day. And after watching for hours all day, up until Obama's final speech in Chicago, the one consistency I noticed between all the channels was a tendency to lean towards the grandiose. 

Admittedly, this was an incredibly important day in American history, but some of the things networks were pushing, and how frequently they were mentioning them began getting under my skin. From the obvious to Obama's race, which I can't count how many times I heard, to Palin's glaring status as a female in line for the Vice Presidency. Other more subtle things were what really bothered me though. It wasn't as if on a day such as this, we needed to trumpet the qualities of America anymore then already had been done, especially if you're reaching for things that may not even be true.

I heard Tom Brokaw, one of America's most beloved newscasters say that America had "invented" democracy. Seconds later he mumbled that we had 'kinda maybe a little sorta' borrowed the idea from Britain. Immediately after that he followed his statement by saying that "America was the first country to have representation with one vote for one person." The co-host for the show, who was off the camera at the time was heard saying "Well....eventually," in reference to our history of prohibiting minorities and women from voting, ironically two groups explicitly represented by candidates in this election.

Is it really necessary on a proud day like this to try and butter up the populous with grandiose statements that aren't even wholly true? There is plenty to cover in regards to America's rich history that is triumphant AND true. I just wish people would try harder sometimes.