Take That

I have to admit that from time to time during the Bush years, I have watched my fellow Americans support all kinds of cruelty and insanity, from the bombing of Baghdad and Fallujah to the ignoring of Hurricane Katrina to the torturing of taxi drivers in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo to the gutting of all meaningful action on global warming, and I have thrown up my hands and said, "So, take what you deserve and like it! Sow the wind if you want, reap the whirlwind, and welcome." From time to time I have lost not only hope but care for my fellow citizens, who have seemed intent on destroying themselves and others for the sake of things I do not and cannot understand. Dictatorships do horrible things, and their citizens are employed to do them, but for a self-advertised democracy to do horrible things seems to me a lot worse -- we are all implicated. We can never walk away from crimes that we failed to prevent, because as citizens of a democracy, it was our job to prevent them.

Here we are at another election day, and when I read about Republican voters in Ohio threatening Obama supporters and screaming that Obama is a Muslim (Rev. Wright, where are you when we need you?) or a terrorist or the Anti-Christ or a Communist or a Socialist, that old knee-jerk impulse takes over again -- I think, go ahead, wreck your country, see what I care! You want Sarah Palin as president? See where that gets you! Why should you be saved from yourselves?

Back in February, 2006, I wondered here on the Huff: "Isn't there always a moment in the life of every dictatorship when the tyrants take the gloves off in public?" And then, "The Republicans might have to then enforce their power with vigilante groups and lynch mobs. Are we there yet?" Since then, we have gotten closer to that point. The Republicans grow more and more shameless -- so shameless in their fearmongering and lying that if we didn't know them so well by now, we would think they were kidding. McCain and Palin and their spokesmodels have shown that they will say anything to retain power, and, if they have to, they will make every attempt to assure that after the election their base will be violent and ungovernable.

And yet, this election day is different, and even though Obama cannot solve all our problems, he is, in fact, a reason not to throw in the towel and move to France. It is pretty clear right now that Obama supporters far outnumber McCain supporters. The country is full of people who have given up on the Republicans -- who recognize that Bush and Cheney took them for a ride, that Palin was a sucker-choice for VP, that McCain is erratic and dangerous, that Obama's race, in their minds, is an entirely secondary consideration to his intelligence and vision. In fact, the country is full of people who are more hopeful and less cynical than I am. And I find it inspiring. As much as I detested Karl Rove, he had me with that "permanent Republican Majority". Maybe I kind of fell for that (screaming all the way down). Even as I speak, the voters are lined up out there, and most of them are voting for Obama. They can see with their own eyes what is going on, so if the Republicans steal the election again this time, they won't believe it for a minute.

Right now, on Monday afternoon, I am not going to say that Obama's win won't be a fight. It could be. I hope it isn't. And as the moderates leave, the Republican base gets more and more unpredictable. But whatever happens and however long it takes, I do believe that the majority of Americans are awake and aware. And that's inspiring. It makes me think my country has a future. And it makes me care about that future. Thanks, Barack!

Comments

[oncethere]

Hope
Faith
Love
If you had to choose one of these, which one would it be ("Charlotte Gray")?

[ld]

I like your use of the word "spokesmodel." I've been trying to get people to use the term "spokesstooge" to refer to George W. Bush.

[awcbuddy8]

I'm pretty sure France made it clear that they are sick of leftists.

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

Why France choose the right wing, had a whole lot more to do with immigrants than economics. Some of the French may have wanted to be able to work a longer week (at least the most greedy among them), but none of the French are in any hurry to give up their health care or their long Summer vacations. You made a nice try to make more out of the French change of government than can reasonably be assumed, but your spin flunks the test of reason.

[obriend]

What has Bush done to this nation? He has kept it safe from terrorist attacks since 9/11. I can only imagine what we would have experienced on that front had he lost in '04.

[Megan97401]

You're hilarious! I can't really think of anything else to say, that whopper left me speechless!

[obriend]

Why... because it is true? Can you count the number of terrorist attacks since 9/11? Bush's security policies have kept us all safe.

[LiberalUnderYourBed]

Ha! Most likely nothing would have happened except perhaps the end of his phony war.
Now, back into your box and have another cup of kool-aid.

[obriend]

I'm drinking no one's Kool-Aid. The only Kool-Aid drinkers of which I am aware will be voting for a guy who, while a fabulous orator, lacks any experience that would qualify for the highest office in this nation. That's drinking Kool-Aid.

[newpantaloons]

Please pull your head out! He has nearly destroyed what makes this country a 'democracy', if not completely destroyed it. I am never ceased to be amazed at how many people STILL think even the tiniest good thing about GeorgeBush/DickCheney!

And, by the way, he didn't 'WIN' in '04. He STOLE the election. Please start reading and doing a little research instead of sitting around spouting nonsense!

[obriend]

Good point. Guess I'll head over to the Daily Kos and all other CREDIBLE sources for my research.

[Plashyfen]

The thing that has kept me looking forward: Knowing that I have lots and lots of company among those who are aghast afresh every day at what Bush has done to this nation.

The thing that has made me saddest: It's taken some people WAY too long to open their eyes to the destruction.

[JustifiablyParanoid]

Nicely said. But better late than never, right...?

[BarryChamplain]

"They can see with their own eyes what is going on, so if the Republicans steal the election again this time, they won't believe it for a minute."

My two paranoid fantasies are:

[a] That is exactly where we'll be, in a matter of hours. Greg Palast makes it clear that the Obama campaign has been loathe to raise the spectre, through this interminible election season, of a stolen election. He says it's because they don't want to "discourage" citizens from voting. I say it's because one of the great American fairy tales a candidate must flog, in order not to be destroyed ny the MSM, is that It Can't Happen Here;


[b] If Greg Palast and I are wrong, are you REALLY confident that President Obama will govern as a progressive? E.G., the environmental disasters that Bush is this week giving away to corporate interests... the news item even says, a new president will have "other priorities" than to turn them around somehow.

Will all the average people who knocked on doors, did videos, wrote to Bubbe and Zayde, held bake sales, etc., just SIT there, as Obama then "governs from the center"? Is THAT why you broke your asses for That One?

And will you be returning him to office in 2012 because, yet again, he's "all you got"??

[RossalGondamer]

Why move to France when the country has done such already?

[Indubio]

I think the French and a little empiricism would argue your point.

[Horst]

One reason America is in trouble is that very few Americans have any first hand knowledge of the outside world (only 20% have passports...including the ignoramus Governor Palin who got one only a year ago) or any knowledge for that matter (only 17% can find Iraq on a map...you wonder if even 25% could find France). As they say Americans learn geography by going to war.

[Horst]

LOL, another American pseudo-intellectual who probably doesn't speak a word of French wants to take the high road and move to France.

[vigilantwarrior]

I "hope" your optimism is well-founded. But "the gloves were taken off in public" on 9/11. There is no way the interests who have benefited from that "event" will allow a real "progressive" into the White House to fully expose the coup that has taken the Republic into fascism. What happened to Kucinich exactly? Cynthia McKinney? "Who?", you ask. Obama fully endorses the fraudulent, Constitution-destroying "War on Terror". He consistently voted to fund the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. He voted five times to renew the "Patriot Act". He voted to give immunity to ATT et al for enabling illegal surveillance of US citizens.

If President Obama is to restore our honor and rescue us from the "tyrants", let him begin by prosecuting those responsible for THIS outrage:

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2008/10/16/confess/

[silemck]

Thanks, Jane---I voted this morning with a lot of smiling, excited Obama supporters of all ages, races, incomes.....Obama is a gift to America!

[MAragon]

So did my Mom and I and everyone there was in good and frankly cheerful spirits.

[blakley]

Barack AND Roll!

[cobobs]

We have heard about the Bradley Effect.
I say, welcome to the OBAMA EFFECT.
It will consist of those millions who will no dare confess to their conservative friends and family that they will vote for Obama in the privacy of the booth.

[sfpolarbear]

I'm with you on that one. I work in a senior center and we had to help some older folks fill out their ballots. We had people say just that. They were voting for O but didn't want their friends to know.

[CitizenE]

A hundred thousand came down to Manassas
on the night Madelyn Dunham died
to touch the hem of a champion
to shout out our love for him
and the hopes we have for our nation--

O where are our mighty Whitmans now
for history is in the offing,
and there is no Red America,
nor one single true blue America;
no fake America--

we fight together, we bleed
and die together
so that one voice
can change one town
and one town change one state
and one state can change a nation

and a nation given to its better angels
to its one by one by one
can change the world.

Fired up!
Ready to go!

holding "firmly without wavering
to the hope
that we confess."

[AlixV]

Please go vote today... This is the first and the last thing I will ever ask you for, I promise ! :-)

I'm not American but this election is so important for all of us in the world. There's a mix of hope and fear here in Europe, but the general feeling is that we want to believe in you again, we want to believe that America is capable of being the great country that it once was.

YOU have the rare opportunity of changing not only your country but the whole world, of having a REAL and palpable impact on all of us. Can you imagine the power of your voice ? No citizen of any other country has that power. Use it. Please vote. For all of our sake.

[themainpoint]

"Please go vote today... This is the first and the last thing I will ever ask you for, I promise ! :-)"

I hope you did not mean this in a literal way, AlixV. Voting is only the very beginning of what we need to do if we want real change.

No president can make changes unless the Congress (the lawMAKERS) are also on board and under immense, constant public pressure to change. They must all know they will be voted out if they do not deliver.

If we want change, then after we vote, we need to participate much more and keep a very close eye on each member of Congress as well as the new president.

We must stay with it and demand that all our leaders make the changes required to restore order, peace and economic security in the United States. If they don't deliver real results we all can see in our own lives, we promptly remove them and replace them with competent leaders who have better intentions.

President Obama will be the president Americans require him to be and nothing more is possible. So lets raise the expectations!

[dobberdoss]

"So, take what you deserve and like it! Sow the wind if you want, reap the whirlwind, and welcome."

Believe me when i say alot of people outside the States thought those very same things the past 8 years of America, EVEN before 9/11!

As a foreigner living in the States can i just say that Obama may be Americas "saving grace" and man do you guys need one. Hope was beginning to disappear from sight. Having said that, "never count your chickens" as they say.

[rockyersocksoff]

The GOP is gonna get it's ass kicked all over the place...and the fringe nutjobs will stay where they thrive live mildew-in the damp dark.

I hope.