(click the picture
above for the high definition
video - but also click
YouTube
for me!)
11:04 PM,
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008:
I have two
words:
Sarah.
Palin.
<cue
uproarious laughter>
It may sound
trivial to start such an historic entry with those two
words but it's honestly the first thing that really
hit me when it sunk in Obama had won. Sarah Palin is
finally a punchline. "Pulling a Palin" will enter the
political vernacular the way I thought it would when
she was announced and it may be the biggest relief of
the night. Remember, what seems like years ago, those
10 days where she was actually working? Where it felt
like 2004 all over again where the majority of the
country couldn't see through something so transparent?
Remember how frightening and bewildering that was?
Well her Wasillabilly ass is going back to Alaska and
we will probably never see another stunt like that in
our lifetimes. Leave it to republican operatives to
find a way for a VP pick to matter... only when you
"pull a palin" and it ends up costing you the
presidency. Sweet, sweet, karma.
The
day however, and really the entire final
week/month/DECADE of this campaign was
excruciating. Specifically for me because
I just couldn't determine what the "sheep"
were gonna fall for. McCain was throwing
EVERYTHING at him the last week, and the
polls were tightening. I swear I
will never forget how stressful this was,
how anxious I was, and how unbelieveably
relieved I am that this is over. It's
over. It's over. He fucking won. A black
man named Barack Hussein Obama overcame
every racist, ignorant, 20th Century
imbecile and became President of the
United States. You better believe I cried.
Hell I cried this morning when I looked at
some of the footage. I teared up with
every picture I saw online.
Everything made me cry. I think I
understand PMS now.
Biggest shocker
for me is that I'm not sure I realized how bad,
personally, the last 8 years were until last night.
Just how
angry I was, how ashamed I was. How at no
time in my adult life did I really feel
proud to be an American. Not to steal
Michelle's line, but it's the truth. Before
Bush I was just apathetic, took it for
granted. Then suddenly, last night -
everything hit me. I was so overwhelmingly
happy and proud of MY country...that the
last 8 years started to occur to me. That 3
years ago, I quit my job and marched on
Washington after Katrina, protesting the war
because I was so ANGRY at my country. What
the fuck? It suddenly boggled my mind. It
seemed foreign. It dawned on me what a
horrible feeling that must have been. And
we're talking moments after he was
elected. Bush
seemed like a distant memory.
To
grasp what I'm getting at, you really have
to see the video I made back then. No
American should ever feel this way about
their own country. Ever. Suddenly this is
a sad video to me. How dare this
administration lie to the citizens like
this. Use the citizens, use our precious
soldiers who believe so much they hand you
their LIFE yet you treat them like
shit before, during, and after. Ruin our
standing in the world to the point that
99.9% pray for your eviction. Not sure
we're gonna be able to have perspective on
this for a loooooooong time.
I can only
pray that a future generation will look back on this
time with awe that this was ever our country. Maybe
how my generation viewed the civil rights movement.
And that's what today really symbolized for me. A
complete shift. I will forever think of the world in
terms of before and after Obama. I will think of
the beginning of the 21st Century as such a difficult
period and in one day we were able to hit a reset
button. It was our message to the world "We, were,
wrong." Now let's see if we can be
"right".
By the way - to
all the people who are mortified about his winning
(like you're really reading this), you need to try and
decipher your feelings a bit. Don't continue to be
effected by campaign politics. If your anger brings up
the term "socialist"? You're still in the spin
machine. If at any time you think "terrorist, muslim,
spread the wealth", again - you're still in the spin
machine. Do yourself a favor, read The Audacity of
Hope. It kinda lays out who he is simply, succintly
and they even have copies in the red states. The
irresponsibility of the McCain campaign to continue to
rile up ignorance with fear is beyond my
comprehension. They've created a division to the point
where there truly are people that think there is a
communist, muslim terrorist as our president. They
believe that. Granted, these were never potential
supporters but to push it to the extreme and basically
set up a situation where if he wins people want to
kill him? This shit has to end in politics. The
parties are far more divided than we are.
And finally, give
Jesse a break. Every single person I've spoken to
about Jesse was pissed because of the things he
said about Obama and acted as if his tears last night
were "crocodile tears". That's not the truth. He is
the old guard. When Obama started rising the old guard
treated him poorly. Treated him like a kid. Didn't
like that his message was different. Didn't like that
he scolded black families for not taking
responsibility. They told him how he should do it, and
he still went his own way. Much like Reverend Wright.
It's a generation that saw things forever one way...
because they were part of some serious shit.
The chips on their shoulders could never truly speak
to white America. Obama didn't experience what they
experienced. Last night, Jesse wept because of the
span of his life. He knows he was wrong and Obama was
right. He knew that the moment Obama got the
nomination... but he's trying to hold onto his role in
this struggle. And the old guard's role was essential
to this. There would be no Obama without Jesse,
Sharpton, King, Lewis... these people paved the way
with their blood. The transition of power to the new
generation wasn't without hard feelings, Jesse said a
few off-the-cuff things, but don't we all during
transition? So give that man a break. He's a national
treasure to me and you can barely understand a fucking
word that comes out of his mouth. Only in America.
LOL.
And to those not
into politics - it's DONE. The Journey
returns.
