There will be enough blog posts in the next 24 hours out there regarding Obama’s victory to rival the amount of sequences in the human genome. As such, I don’t really feel it necessary to write about. But I would like to say two words:
FUCK YEAH!
Okay, a few more words: We did it. We won. The longest presidential campaigns in US history, and I gotta say this time we got it right. After the electoral coup of 2000, and the flop of 2004, thankfully the Dems, no doubt enlivened by social media and technological advancement, employed all the correct and creative mediums to not only capture an overwhelming majority electoral vote, but in doing so smash record voter turnout numbers. Meanwhile the Republicans stuck to some petty Karl Rove maneuvers and it backlashed, it backlashed big. Compounded by McCain’s trophy of a VP candidate, and the Republican party will be in civil strife for some time, as it attempts to re-define it’s image and Conservatives disagree with each other and realize the fear-mongering politics of post-9/11 no longer work to capture general elections.
People who know me know I’ve been campaigning for Obama since before he announced his presidential bid. And while I can concur that his track record is nothing to be marveled, he is a signifier. A signifier of hope and the now-very imminent possibility of change. Not only in the presidential sense, but in the local sense. Obama will make it possible for other minorities to advance at the political level. His campaign also showed how an honest deployment of social media – a degree of transparency – can catapult the right person at the right time. I don’t believe this movement (for lack of a better word) would have been possible in 2004. But now, it was not only possible but necessary and desired. Desired, as shown by the 250,000 people who gathered in Chicago to hear Obama’s victory speech. Desired, as shown by the hordes of people in NYC who flooded into the streets, honking, waving signs, shouting, Yes We Can. I can’t say I could have ever imagined the American people so energized and politicized by the possibility of change and progress.
As I embark on a path of homelessness and unemployment, I can actually say I feel quite good. I’m looking forward to digging in, and fighting for what I believe in. Wow.