Brave New World

I don't post a lot. Partly because I never really know what to say, and also because I don't feel that I have anything all that meaningful to add to the world's literature. I have, however, started using Twitter. And that made me think that maybe I don't have to have some deep, meaningful prose about the great questions that plague man's soul. I am realizing that this blog is something like a journal or a diary, though much more public than that. It doesn't have my innermost thoughts or hopes or dreams, but it does have things that I think about or enjoy talking about. And sometimes, it just records my random thoughts.

I decided to post today mainly because I think it's important to have a record of my feelings and state of mind with such an historic event as this presidential election. I didn't really blog anything (as I wasn't into blogging yet) during 9/11 or the months that followed. And I kind of regret this.

Most people know that I tend to lean to the left side of the political spectrum. My views are usually pretty liberal, though I don't think I'm an extremist in any sense. So it probably surprised no one that I voted for Obama. But I wanted to explain why.

Our country has had a dark cloud over it for the past 7 years. The current administration has grossly mismanaged this country. At the end of Bush's 8 year stint, we've had two miserable (and unending) wars, the worst financial crisis the world has seen in decades*, the passing of the (un)Patriot Act, and the most divisive political situation I've ever seen. We tried to change things in 2004, but we failed. To be fair, Kerry was not a great candidate. I was a Howard Dean supporter and I never really liked Kerry. In fact, despite the generally dismal situation in 2004 I still felt like I was just voting for Kerry because he was not Bush. That's not a good feeling, but it's how it's been just about every time I've voted: resigned to pick someone not because I was inspired by their policies or speeches or inspirational ability, but because I didn't want the "wrong lizard to get in" (go here for an explanation from the late Douglas Adams).

But not this year. This year was different. It wasn't a matter of "I'm voting for X so that !X won't get in!" No, this year I voted for someone that I actually believed in. Someone who, I felt, exemplified the ideals and qualities and character of a true leader. Someone who would be able to lead this country through compassion, understanding, and strength. Not through fear and paranoia and force. Barack Obama is that person. Now I want to be clear that I do not think that John McCain = George Bush. Far from it. In fact, I would have possibly considered voting for the McCain of old. But his record over the last few years, and his WTF decision of selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate just cemented my conviction that the status quo would continue under McCain.

I do think that had McCain been elected, things would have changed. Most of the Republican party has more or less severed ties with the Bush administration and McCain has definitely been trying to make that clear. So I'd say that McCain ~ Bush.

But be that as it may, it would not have mattered one iota because the Dems decided to go all in with this election. And I'm not just talking about Obama. I'm talking about Hillary Clinton as well. I mean, either way I felt the Republicans would be benched for this round. It was more a question of which historic candidate would we elect? The first black president, or the first female president? I liked them both and I would have voted for either one. But as time went on, Obama proved himself to be an inspiring candidate. One thing I like about him is that he makes very careful, calculated decisions. The selection of Joe Biden as VP was an excellent decision and I'm sure a lot of thought went into that choice.

I've heard people make comparisons regarding the general feeling in the country following Obama's win with how people felt about Kennedy's presidency. Kennedy was the same kind of leader that Obama has the potential to be. He was young, charismatic, inspiring, and a brilliant statesman and orator. Some of the best speeches ever given were given by Kennedy. But I also think people tended to make more out of Kennedy than he really was due to the assassination. People were still on the new leader high and when he died, and then it was no longer fashionable to criticize his politics. This is not to say the Kennedy was a poor leader as he did some great things while in office: the kick-starting of the space program, creation of the peace corps, that whole Cuban missile crisis thing. But he really did not introduce many sweeping changes while in office. Most of his legislation introduced only minor changes. And of course, there's the Bay of Pigs incident.

But what Kennedy might have lacked in bold action and reform, he more than made up for in his ability to inspire and bring hope to all those who saw him or heard him speak. Obama has this same quality and I hope he can continue to inspire the American people and the rest of the world. But he has a steep hill to climb. He must lead by example and not try and simply talk away all the problems. There can be no redefining of the problem so that it no longer exists. Our country has been broken, and it needs to be fixed. The fact that, only a few decades after the civil rights movement brought the beginnings of equality to this country, we can elect a black president speaks volumes for how far we've come as a nation. The eyes of the world are upon us and the president-elect. It's time for us to show the world and ourselves that we are the shining example of democracy that the founding fathers envisioned.

*To be fair, it was not completely Bush's fault that the world financial system imploded. There are many, many people involved in the crisis and no one person is at fault. But if the captain of an oil tanker smashes it against a reef because he was sailing too close trying to make better time rather than taking the safer route, he does still bear responsibility. I'm just sayin'.