Thoughts on the Election

I have many thoughts on the election, but I find that I'm having a hard time putting together a cohesive post. Therefore, I'll just write some of my thoughts below without worrying about cohesion.

You're on your own for the cohesion.

I watched Al Jazeera for the results. I don't have cable, just what I can get with an antenna. The three major networks had so much extra flare on their screens that it was difficult for me to read anything. So, I watched Al Jazeera online.

They did a nice job, but I heard the phrase "No Republican has every won the presidency without Ohio" about 54 times over three hours.

Also, they had a male and female anchor. The man was British and really awful. When they cut to video of the Obama rally he said "Let's all be silent and let the crowd speak." Cut to five minutes of people screaming while the newspeople remained silent.

It was weird and inappropriate as he cut off a conversation mid-sentence.

McCain's concession speech was nice. I thought it was very classy.

Joe Biden was the only candidate to support federalism in Iraq. I don't know that it'll make any real difference, but it could be positive for Kurdistan.

I always enjoy voting. Yesterday was no exception. It was cool, too that so many people voted who wouldn't normally. It was the first vote for both Angie and Kate. This is the first time Kate was old enough. Angie doesn't really have an excuse.

But, I also found respect for people that refused to vote.

Obama isn't really an African American. He's the son of a white woman and an African man, so he's clearly an American of African descent. However, given his upbringing with his mother's family, I think he lacks the experience of most black Americans.

It also means that his personal racial history is not typical of black people in America. There is no history of slavery or oppressive racism in his family other than his own, of course.

I don't mean that as a value judgment, rather it's just something that occurred to me last night and I found the thought interesting. I wonder about the differences between him and even his own wife. And I wonder if it even matters. Does it play out in the relationship between Obama and Michelle? Does the mere fact of having black skin allow one into the shared history of the black community.

I'd like to do a sociological study of it, but, alas, I doubt I will.

I hope Obama can live up to the expectations of his supporters. Wouldn't that be great? I fear that expectations are way too high, but if he gets anywhere near it'll be great for the country, so I'll wait hopefully.

It's exciting that people are so excited by him, but I can be cynical; I think there's no way he can be everything that people want him to be or even everything he promised to be.

I am eager, though, to get to the end of the Bush administration and the general feeling of funk that's settled in over the past couple of years. For good or bad, Obama will be a change and will be perceived as a huge change.

And Obama's honeymoon phase will keep the media quiet for a while. I think even the conservative media will give him a break for a few months.

That silence will be nice.

Or maybe that's just wishful thinking.