I feel such a mixture of happy and sad in the face of what I’m convinced will be the result of tomorrow’s election in the US.
I’m happy that a man whose skin is not white will be the President of the United States of America. I wish that he was more willing to claim the disaster of racism as his own and it makes me sad that he doesn’t seem to really “get it”. Scared too. For instance, scared for the black American men who represent 65% of America’s prison population and scared for the fastest growing part of that population: African American women. And for lots of other African Americans, for lots of other reasons.
I’m happy that a man who voted against the Iraq War will be President of the United States of America. I wish I was sure that he wouldn’t take the world into further disasters in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Gaza and it makes me sad that he doesn’t seem to really “get it”. Scared too. For instance, scared for the American soldiers and Afghan, Pakistani, and Gazan women and children who will grow up in poverty or die senselessly because he doesn’t.
I’m happy that a man who is a member of a racialized minority will be the President of the United States and I share in the joy of African Americans. I wish that he and his campaign and his party hadn’t found it necessary to flagellate Hillary Clinton, the women of America and the women of the world to gain the prize and it makes me sad that he doesn’t “get it”. Scared too. For instance, scared for the women who will continue to be the butts of sexist and misogynist jokes, for the women who will be the subjects of pornography, the forced prostitution and death at the hands of rapists or the men who are supposed to love them; for all of us who wait for a woman leader who is respected as much as Obama is respected – even taking account of the racism the campaign has generated, or exposed.
I’m happy that a man who has some respect for the US Constitution will be President of the United States of America. I’m sad that he thought that the FISA compromise was ok. Scared too. For instance, scared of the United States of America and the weakening of democracy in the country that still stands for the best blossoming of that principle in the world, and that we will lose it – that is, lose the USA and lose democracy.
I’m just plain sad that the next President of the United States of America will not stand up, unequivocally, for same-sex marriage and for the obvious principle that women, and women alone, not women, their families and their pastors, are responsible for their own bodies.
I’ll be just plain happy to see the end of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. But I wish Obama would go after them for their crimes.
I’ll be just plain happy to hear the words “I, Barack Hussein Obama …”
I’m neither sad nor scared, but damned angry, that the Republican are going to paint Obama’s election as the unhappy result of media bias and voter fraud:
… the Republican base already seems to be gearing up to regard defeat not as a verdict on conservative policies, but as the result of an evil conspiracy. A recent Democracy Corps poll found that Republicans, by a margin of more than two to one, believe that Mr. McCain is losing “because the mainstream media is biased” rather than “because Americans are tired of George Bush.”
And Mr. McCain has laid the groundwork for feverish claims that the election was stolen, declaring that the community activist group Acorn — which, as Factcheck.org points out, has never “been found guilty of, or even charged with” causing fraudulent votes to be cast — “is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.”
These far right nutbars are a danger to everywhere. I’ll be happy if they all fall into the sea. And have a nice relaxing swim.
mirabile dictu 