So THAT'S where I felt that before!

I just read "Taking Our Country Back," an essay at Salon.com worth reading in its own right; it sums up rather well what the election of Barack Obama means to me. But its opening sentences evoked the sense of deja vu that I'd had last night as I watched Obama's acceptance speech. At the time, I couldn't put my finger on it. These words crystallized it in my mind:

Only rarely does one know that one is experiencing history while it happens. Barack Obama's victory is one of those occasions.

There have been two or three other occasions when I have had that feeling. A couple of them were tragic, and their dates are forever seared into my memory: November 22, 1963, and September 11, 2001. But the third - one whose exact date I can't even name - is the one those words recalled, and which in retrospect is the one that most closely resembled last night. It was the night Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon.

Then, as now, I was aware that I was witnessing the unfolding of events that changed the world. Then, as now, the realm of the possible was profoundly and forever expanded by the completion of a difficult journey undertaken amid doubt that it could be completed. Then, a man had called on a nation to undertake such a journey; now, it seems, a nation has called forth a man.

I originally supported Barack Obama because of what he was not. He was not a neocon, he was not a religious fundamentalist, he was not a fearmonger. But over the course of a summer and an early autumn, I came to see in him the promise of a true statesman, a leader who has the potential to unite us again as Americans, to unite us again with our allies around the world, to awaken us again to what is possible, and hopefully, to inspire us again to rise to the challenges of our time and accomplish greater things that we have dared to aspire to. And last night, as on that night in 1969, I had the same thought: if we can do this, we can do whatever we need to do.

Yes, we can.

What Palin hath wrought

Newsweek reports:

The Obama campaign was provided with reports from the Secret Service showing a sharp and disturbing increase in threats to Obama in September and early October, at the same time that many crowds at Palin rallies became more frenzied. Michelle Obama was shaken by the vituperative crowds and the hot rhetoric from the GOP candidates. "Why would they try to make people hate us?" Michelle asked a top campaign aide.

Because, Michelle, they're scum.

Yes We Did

Enjoy

Today the politics of divisiveness and fear has been repudiated, and we have in some small part fulfilled the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr., as this one man has been judged not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character.

Last night in his acceptance speech, President-elect Obama thanked "the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics" - and I was proud to know I was part of that team.

Tomorrow I will be just as proud to poke and prod and try to pressure the president-to-be into doing the right things for the American people, the people of the world, and the very future of life on earth. The hard work is just beginning. For today, I'm just going to enjoy what we have accomplished.

Dixville Notch: the landslide is on

In the wee small hours of this election day morning, Dixville Notch broke with tradition in a big way.

1972: Ford 13, Carter 11
1980: Reagan 17, Carter 3
1984: Reagan 29, Mondale 1
1988: GHW Bush 34, Dukakis 3
1992: GHW Bush 15, Clinton 2
1996: Dole 18, Clinton 8
2000: GW Bush 21, Gore 5
2004: GW Bush 19, Kerry 7

So in the past eight presidential elections, from 36 years ago to the present time, Dixville Notch has gone Republican - and usually by a landslide. So it's no surprise that their results today were lopsided too. Know what's a surprise?

Obama 15, McCain 6.

Nuff said.

VOTE

Let's Be Careful Out There

It's getting real ugly in some parts.

Sign wars

Speaking of pettiness, one tactic that seems quite common from the McCain camp is stealing or defacing Obama signs.

At the Obama campaign office where I was waiting for my canvassing assignment Saturday afternoon, I saw this sign:

YOU STOLE MY OBAMA SIGN
SO I BOUGHT ANOTHER ONE
AND MADE ANOTHER CAMPAIGN DONATION

PLEASE STEAL MORE SIGNS


Then there's this approach:

Canvassing experience

My wife sent me this link to an essay by a "pretty conservative" guy whose wife made him go canvassing for Obama ("I did... what most middle-aged married men do: what I was told") and who learned something in the process.

It's not about taxes. I'm pretty sure mine are going to go up no matter who is elected.

It's not about foreign policy. I think we'll figure out a way to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan no matter which party controls the White House, mostly because the people who live there don't want us there anymore....

I've learned that this election is about the heart of America. It's about the young people who are losing hope and the old people who have been forgotten. It's about those who have worked all their lives and never fully realized the promise of America, but see that promise for their grandchildren in Barack Obama. The poor see a chance, when they often have few. I saw hope in the eyes and faces in those doorways.

I went canvassing on Saturday myself, and I had a couple of memorable encounters. One was with a twenty-something Latino voter who recently got his citizenship and is thrilled to be taking part in the most important ritual of democracy. "I've been here six years," he beamed, "and this is my first time to vote." He went on for several minutes about how much Obama's message resonates with him; he would have gone on longer if I hadn't excused myself to continue my rounds.

Another experience was not as pleasant. Our marching orders were to speak to individuals on our lists who had been identified as potential Obama supporters, even if McCain paraphernalia were in evidence - after all, a given household may be split in its loyalties or leanings. So as I approached one house with a stern-looking middle-aged man raking leaves in the yard, I didn't let the McCain sign by the driveway deter me. I was looking for a 20-year-old, evidently this guy's son.

He seemed friendly enough, despite the Obama hat and button I was wearing. No, he said, his son wasn't home, but was there something I'd like to leave for him?

"Yes, if you don't mind, I have some literature for him from the Obama campaign that I'd like to -"

"I don't want it." His expression, his posture, his whole attitude changed at the mention of Obama's name.

"He doesn't want it?" I had to ask.

"He might. I don't. If you want him to have that," he said, looking at the packet in my hand as if he feared catching a disease from it, "you'll have to give it to him yourself." I think he may have had a slight pang of conscience, as he added in a somewhat less assertive tone, "he gets off work about 4."

I hope that if some McCain canvasser showed up at my door and asked me to give his literature to my daughter, I would take it and faithfully deliver it even though I disagree with just about everything I think the GOP stands for. Of course I can't say what I would do in ay hypothetical situation - I'll find out when and if such a scenario arises - but I think I'd do the right thing, especially if I had explicitly offered to take a message for her.

This seems somehow typical of the pettiness I see from way too many McCain supporters. At least he wasn't like the schoolteacher and Republican delegate in Michigan who refused Halloween candy to children whose parents support Obama:



Hey lady, it's pretty bad when even Fox is calling you on your outrageous behavior.

Sunday comics

I love this collage from DailyKos' Photobucket album. I hope this trio wears the same expression Tuesday night.

Is it just me, or is McCain doing a Bob Dole impersonation?