Election Reflection

(catchy title huh :)

This week has been interesting - besides the election, I'm now really excited about the bands I'm in, and our salsa band is coming back together (another drummer and excellent new piano player). The weather for November has been odd, but what else is new. I also have to give a shout out to my wonderful cat Mr. Fluffy Face - I accidentally shut him in our office room the other night all night (didn't realize he was still in there) and he did not make a mess or get into stuff he wasn't supposed to when I found him in the morning. I promptly gave him lots of pets and treats. GOOD KITTY!

On to the election - I decided to wait a few days to let things sink in - my last post was at 12:30am the night of, and a little emotional.

No No Drama - it was over by 10:30? Where is the waiting until 3am, calling and then "un"-calling states like Florida, hanging chad, Supreme Court ruling dramas? OK I'm really glad none of that happened :) But what news are they going to report on now?

Barack Obama - I really believe he's going to be a good president. Certainly he'll make mistakes, and he certainly has a very large job ahead of him. But he genuinely seems honest, cares about what's going on in this country, and seems to truly love his wife and children. I loved his comment in the acceptance speech "no government can solve every problem" - it's true. This is a joint effort. We all have to work on solutions.

John McCain - I have to give him credit for being a class act. While I don't agree on how he was going to go about solving our nation's problems, I believe he truly does believe in this country and wants to make things better. His concession speech was given with dignity and grace, and I hope he decides to become a "maverick" again and work with Obama and the administration to get things done. We need people like him working and leading. I do question the people he had surrounded himself with on this campaign, his choice of VP, and seemingly changing his personality overnight to try and pander his "base". I hope the McCain of 2000 is back now.

Sara Palin - well, she did make things more interesting :) And I'm sure Saturday Night Live was happy to have her along for the ride.

The Election Process - it does seem like we're making progress back towards transparency and credibility in the election process. We've still got a ways to go, but it's looking a lot better. I think the whole country should take after Minnesota personally - consistently the best voter turnout, the wait times were not bad (~ 20 minutes total for me), scantron ballots where you just have to fill in an oval, they get electronically counted but you have a paper backup. Oh, and pretty easy to pass out more pencils and put up a few more tables and chairs when it gets busy. Try doing that with electronic voting machines.

Ted Stevens (AK senator) and Michelle Bachman (MN rep) - The Stevens election completely baffles me. Yes Alaska is largely republican, but HOLY COW the guy was convicted of a FELONY a month ago! Even people who barely watch the news or read a paper couldn't have missed that. Yet he still gets elected. He is going to get ejected from the senate shortly because of his felony conviction anyway, but GEEZ, how ignorant can voters be? Michelle Bachman didn't get convicted of anything, but after the statements she made I'm amazed she won again. I guess a lot of our country DOES just vote a party line regardless.

CA Proposition 8 (ban on same-sex marriage) - I'm still amazed that this passed. I kinda figured it would pass in Florida and Arizona, but not in California. There's now a question as to whether the marriages that happened in California between June and November will be invalidated. If they are, I feel for those couples who are going to get their marriage taken away. Several of my wise friends have reminded me that equality is a long process that takes time, and is not won in an election booth or a legislature or in a court - it's won one person, one attitude at a time. It's won by being open about yourself, living your life as yourself, and living as a good example of a human being. I'm not going to worry about stuff I can't control like elections and courts. I know in my own life that I'm making a positive difference - that's all I can do, and I will continue to do it. I may not have the right to get married in my lifetime. It will happen in someone's lifetime though.

Franken/Coleman - I guess it's fitting that this election ended up almost dead even. Quite honestly I wasn't a huge fan of either one. Seems like so many elections anymore are choosing between two people you don't want. Last time that happened in Minnesota, I voted for Jesse Ventura for governor over the dem and repub candidates, and I think that's what a lot people did because he won. So for me this was a voting for the better of the bad. I will say I have never believed Norm Coleman deserved to be in office in the first place - he switched parties to attempt to get elected years ago (since he knew he couldn't run against Paul Wellstone on the dem side), lost the governor race to Jesse Ventura, and got elected almost by default after Paul Wellstone tragically died so close to the last election. I just wish there had been better choices on this ticket.

Local Offices - anyone else feel guilty voting for people they don't know? Fortunately most of them run unopposed, but it would suck to be a judge running against someone and more/less leave it up to random choice that you will win. I used to vote against all the incumbents, now I wonder if that is a good idea....I suppose in the grand scheme I shouldn't worry :)

OK...time to move on from the election...at least until the next campaign starts...oh wait that will be in like 2 weeks :)