Too Much to Process

I wasn't feeling overwhelmed or super-emotional yesterday, watching the returns. Maybe it's the lack of sleep, but today is the day I feel like crying.   I was listening to WGN 720 on the way in to work and Spike O'Dell was talking to some political correspondent in London (a US citizen). She was talking about the world's reaction to Obama being elected, obviously. She told about how random people were just coming up to her when they heard her American accent and congratulating her for Obama's win. She was saying THIS is what Europeans are saying America is really about [paraphrased]: democracy, merit, and equality. We elected a mixed-race man with big ears and a funny [Arab sounding!] name to the White House. Anything is possible.   That made me teary. I've been fortunate to do some foreign travel, and really, during my  last trips in 05/06, as an American, I just wanted to be as LOW key as possible. I was embarassed to be identified as an American because of how Bush and his minions had absolutely destroyed our standing and good will in the world. I felt like I had to be apologetic about my nationality and how our country was run by inbred redneck assholes who didn't even believe in our Constitution. Who pretty much shat on our individual rights and gave the rest of the world the middle finger. All I could offer to people I know overseas is: dude, I did NOT vote for this shit. There ARE sane people here, I swear, but we've been hi-jacked by the neocons.   There were cheers in Parliament for Obama.   Dude. America did take a huge step towards growing the hell up (some tv dude said this last night?).   Thank god the Democrats found their feet. Thank god the PEOPLE finally woke up and put off apathy and fucking BELIEVED that things CAN, SHOULD, and WILL be better. This country is not hopeless. I can be proud of my country and hold my head up.   Obama is just one man. He's got huge expectations. Realistically, he can't deliver on everything. All I know is he IS a thinking man. He is caring. He will LISTEN to people (big ears help?), even (and especially) when they disagree with him - UNLIKE THE REPUBLICANS who thought they were above listening to the people! He is going to be asked to lead our country in a time of huge crisis in almost every sector.   McCain's concession speech last night? I like the leet speak "tl;dr" for it. Blah blah blah. Get the hell off the stage. You know, if McCain had run a campaign as "gracious" as that speech was, he probably would have performed better. Instead, he caved to the Rove people running his campaign and fought a campaign of smears, lies and hatred. All of that appealed to the very worst in many of his supporters. Did you hear them booing and screaming at his pathetic little rally in AZ? I was just waiting to hear one of them yell out "Osama" or use the N-word. It's hard to convince your supporters to act like responsible adults, when you've spent a couple years whipping them up into a frenzy of bigoted and mislead hatred. (*snort* Couple years? Yeah, the GOP has spent since at least 1992 demonizing anyone who didn't agree with them.) In other words, McCain: TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE.   CNN coverage got fucking downright annoying after a while. Hello - they couldn't even get right the "last time one party controlled both the Congress and WH". They said Bill Clinton. MORONS - it was GEORGE DUMBYA BUSH AND HIS NEOCONS. *smacks forehead* Yeah, so much for our liberal fucking media bias!   All is not bright and shiny:   Some places went blue that hadn't been in years. Indiana is an example.   Kay Hagan beat the slime campaign of Liddy Dole in North Carolina. Gee, Liddy, I guess calling the Sunday School Teacher "godless" wasn't such a fucking smart idea after all?   Assaults against a woman's right to choose were defeated in North Dakota and another state.   Dan Seals lost to asshat Kirk. *groan* Kirk was all "we'll be there to look over [Obama's] his shoulder when he needs it". WTF?! NOW you're interested in performing your fucking job as a check and balance on the fucking executive branch? NOW? Coveniently after you've spent the last ten years voting party line and with Bush NINETY PER CENT OF THE TIME. FUCK YOU.   Darcy Burner may not have won.   Franken ran tight, but lost.   Tinklenberg did not beat that fucking crazed asshat Bachmann in the MN-06. In case you didn't know, Bachmann is the McCarthy era wannabe who thinks people should be investigated for un-American activities. Whore.   Alaska. From the state that shat out Sarah Palin. Seriously. You people need to get fucking UV lamps or something, because you are living in the dark in more ways than one. You fucking RE-ELECTED CONVICTED FELON Ted Stevens?! Are you out of your mind?! Less than four thousand votes difference. Give me a damn break. Members of his own party - shocking I know, that the Repubs would do this -  (in addition to Dems, obviously) have said they will KICK HIM OUT the Senate if he is re-elected. A CONVICTED FELON does not belong in the Senate!   And perhaps most grievously, discrimination is still alive and un-well in the U.S. Proposition-8 was passed in California. (Other discriminating laws were enacted in other states as well.) The GLBT community has been relegated to second-class status. As a straight person, how the HELL does it bother or affect MY life if two gay people wish to marry? Answer: IT DOESN'T. People need to mind their own fucking houses and their own fucking business. Gay people pay taxes and all that shit just like the rest of us. They own a share of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" just like the rest of us. All I can hope is that people continue to fight and file lawsuits all the way up to the Supreme Court on this.   We all saw how well the doctrine of "separate but equal" worked when it came to blacks and whites in this country. Pardon the pun, but clearly "gay" is the new "black" when it comes to discrimination in this country.   In short: we have things to be proud of with this election, but clearly, we still have MUCH to work on.