Amazing

I don’t think I will get any writing done today. I am absolutely giddy. All day yesterday, I felt so nervous, even though for the last week, I’ve checked the yahoo map compulsively, counting up the blue states, trying to convince myself that there couldn’t be cheating in Ohio and Florida and Pennsylvania, and where ever else that would need to happen to keep Obama from reaching 270, and  that as bad as those allegations were in 2000 and 2004, there was still an element of doubt. The country was polarized enough that it was practically split down the middle, and neither the Democrats or Republicans were offering a candidate that truly inspired people to get out and give their all.

If there are cheating allegations this time, I kept telling myself and anyone who happen to cross my path, there should be people in the streets–massive protests. Because this time cheating would really go against the will of a clear majority of the people. Everytime I heard about the latest dirty trick–the flyer in Virginia that said Democrats vote on November 5, the robocalls in Pennsylvania saying Obama would cause a second Holocaust, I felt sick, angry. This stuff should be illegal, and campaigns that engage in it should be fined heavily, or even disqualified. This is beyond negative campaigning; it’s cheating, and it’s slander. It wouldn’t be tolerated in sports, which has a far less  important outcome than the leadership of the country.

But I am so thrilled that democracy has prevailed. That people’s votes can actually count.

My students at the university where I teach were all excited yesterday, so many of them voting in their first presidential election. Several were absent, but with good cause, needing to drive two hours or more to their polling places in their home towns. I’ve been teaching there for eight years and I’ve never seen this before–the intensity of their interest was stunning and inspiring.

And I’m proud of daughter for getting up early on a Saturday morning to cast her vote a few weeks ago in Ohio, where she re-registered once she started college in order to vote in a swing state. She called right after they announced the winner. “Is it really true?” she asked, and I realized how much she’d been imbued with her parents’ cynicism about stolen elections and power interests dictating American politics rather than the people’s will. And I’m proud of my son’s friends in high school, who spent their study hall time calling voters in Pennyslvania on their cell phones. After all the rhetoric about “The Me Generation” our hope rests with these young voters and soon -to-be voters who are actively participating in building a better world.

While I may have political differences with Obama, (I often vote for Green Party candidates or independents) I was proud to cast my vote for him, because over and over during the course of the campaign, he impressed me with his leadership, pragmatism, and most importantly his message of unity.  I believe his willingness to listen, collaborate and engage in meaningful dialogue with those who agree with his positions and those who don’t will make him a profound leader who has the ability to change the face of the country and the face of the world. And I was also impressed with McCain’s concession speech as reflective of the “real maverick” McCain we knew in 2000. I may disagree with his approach, but I believe that before his campaign spun out of control, the policies he offered were sincerely based on his beliefs and values.

Obama’s got a hard job ahead of him, perhaps an impossible job, but I hope that now that the election is over we can put differences aside and work together toward our common goals. Viva America!