As noted earlier, Tuesday night certainly wasn't exciting or nail-biting or creating any sort of queasy stomachs/rumbling bowels/hair pulling/face clawing impulses-- state by state, Barack racked up what he needed to win, and it was pretty clear by the time Pennsylvania was added to his column that the election was over. I even started a post on Peep Hole calling the election, but I didn't want to jinx it.When California closed the polls and the election was called immediately, I didn't feel anything I thought I would-- I didn't cry, scream, jump in the air, hug the person next to me. At some point in the evening a full glass of wine slipped out of my hand and spilled on the carpet and floor and wall and down the hall, but I think that was nature's way of saying, "okay, you've had enough."
When I went out later to walk the dogs, I heard the people screaming in the street, saw the helicopters hovering above with their high-powered light beams trained into the crowd, was passed by goddam jamborees of bicycle riders whistling their fool heads off, but all I felt was the natural feeling-- "get away from my dogs, you drunken louts." It's always fun navigating a pitbull and a chihuahua-pug (chipugua to you) through a throng of shrieking, stumbling girls.
Maybe I felt nothing because, as my Peep Hole partner often reminds, me, I'm not a flesh-and-blood person. Yes, that's true, but I really did feel something 8 years ago, during the Bush-Gore election. Or maybe it was the company, or just the circumstances? While I was cooking dinner, the convection oven caught on fire, and I was out in the hall with the roof door open trying to fan out the smoke when a big whoop! came from the living room. When I finally got back to the tv, I was told Gore had just won Florida. Holy crap, the night was over and we hadn't even eaten dinner. Now that was exciting, and the rest of the evening, and then month, there was nailbiting, hair-pulling dread.
I guess it's the prospect of losing, especially when you know your candidate is so far superior to the other. It drove me crazy when people, even the media, noted there was little difference between Bush and Gore; that people bought Bushes' compassionate Conservative crap, even though as Governor in Texas, he was rated last or next to last of all 50 states in child care, people with insurance, health care, education-- does anyone doubt there were differences now?
It just seemed, this time, the wind was at the Democrats back. Polls can be wrong, and I knew too many people who knew somebody who was otherwise reasonable, but refused to vote for a Black man. Or thought the Democrats were socialists-- as though the recent bailout, supported by Bush and McCain, wasn't the biggest socialist program since Medicare in the 60's. Would reason finally prevail?
And when reason finally prevails, is it really something to celebrate about, especially when you're celebrating that the American people aren't idiots? No big whoop. Of course they're not-- at least not this time.
