And we did.

I feel like I can sleep tonight. I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it. He won. We won. The country won. I cried when it was called, and I cried when he spoke. And frankly, McCain’s graciousness even touched me.

I have hope. A lot of hope.

Earlier this month I committed to reading both party platforms and post my thoughts here. That didn’t happen. I couldn’t make it past the homophobic ramblings in the ‘national security’ chapter of the Republican Party, so I decided to instead watch it unfold in the media. Yikes.

I admittedly do not count Republicans among many of my close friends, so I have to wonder aloud – are you folks pissed? I would be kind of insulted right now. First, the more Gov. Palin speaks, the more it become painfully clear that she’s just not qualified to do the job of President. Yes, she’s running to be Vice President, but let’s be honest. We’ve all seen McCain. Older people can certainly do pretty much any job, and the wisdom of someone who has 70 years of life experience is amazing. But this particular septuagenerian is not in good health. Even in perfect health someone his age has a nearly 15% chance of dying in office. Do I even want a 15% chance of Palin as president? No. And I’m intrigued by those who do. Fascinated, almost. It seems insulting that he has so little respect for his own party that he would put his reputation and the election on the line to appease some pretty extremist folks.

Second, the latest ploy strikes me as spectacularly ill-advised. I must admit that when I first saw the CNN breaking new e-mail, I was pretty interested. Suspend campaigning? Hmm. I can see how that might read as a good a idea, especially in a closed room filled with take-out and group-think. But postpone the debate? Seriously? Huh . . . 

Then I saw Obama’s response, and whew. It’s so nice to see someone who doesn’t seem beyond flustered, who doesn’t seem like he’s pissed that he has to talk to us, and who is a thoughtful person. I know snap decisions seem to be favored by many in this country, but not me. I like that he seems to consider how to respond. And I loved his very true response to McCain’s suggestion – no. Something along the lines of ‘A President sometimes has to do more than one thing at a time.’ Ha! So true. Also true? Now is exactly when we need to hear from the candidates honestly about how they are going to work it all out. This is when we need the debates, and the discussion. 

It’s telling to me that McCain wants to disappear right now.

Okay, so this is interesting to me. Hurricane Gustav (which I can’t say without a German accent) is heading to Louisiana, and a few different things are going on. Deja vu for one, as I’m watching Anderson Cooper standing in New Orleans. But this time around, three years after Katrina, I have a different perspective. Now I sit here, watching CNN and MSNBC, I have a better understanding of what goes into emergency planning, and what an amazing undertaking it really is.

I am excited to see that evacuation seems to be going better in New Orleans than before. The organization of buses to get people without transportation out of town is heartening, as is the fact that evacuation started so soon. I am, however, a little concerned about Nagen. The poor guy probably can’t win no matter what he says, but he used SUCH strong words yesterday, and now that the storm is predicted to come in at a level lower than before, I worry that the next time, if it’s worse, people won’t believe him when he says move, because hey, Gustav wasn’t that bad.

The political implications are intriguing as well. The RNC looks to be significantly downgraded, with just the call to order on Monday. Bush and Cheney won’t be attending. McCain and Palin are going to visit the Louisiana command center, and may speak via satellite, I think. I’m happy that they recognize that partying might not be the best thing to do right now, although I also wonder about the motivation. If they come through with calls for assistance, and that helps the Red Cross, then great. Of course, I was looking forward to watching the speeches and throwing things at the television. The DNC laid out such specific concerns and plans – how would the RNC speakers respond?

The next question for me is how this will effect the campaigns. Will it? I know there are bumps in the polls after conventions, but those tend to go away. So by (effectively) not having a convention for the RNC but having one for the DNC, does anything change? Are there people out there who watch the conventions and base their votes on that? Or are they both just events where they preach to the choir?

We shall see . . . 

This is really only the third presidential election I can vividly picture. I somewhat remember 1996, but I think that consists mostly of me sitting on the couch in Danville watching the states change color.

In 2000, Renee came over (with some fabulous seven layer dip, I believe) and we watched the east coast returns come in. That was the best part – being able to watch what was going on across the country. Of course, we didn’t have a President for awhile. I wasn’t a huge Gore fan (I voted for Bradley in the primary), but, well, y’know.

2004 was shocking to me. I really thought Kerry was going to win. I was a bit more tuned in then – I even got to go to the DNC, which was awesome. It was fun to go to the convention, sit with the New York delegation, and wander around to parties and discussions.

Now it’s 2008. I was somewhat surprised Clinton didn’t get the nomination – I voted for Obama, but still, I kind of thought that was a forgone conclusion. I should have known that people would be more willing to vote for a man than a woman. 

I watched the convention last night, and I really enjoyed Michelle’s speech. I actually found it, well, a bit inspiring. And then – the media weighed in. They’ve been focusing on Clinton, and trying to find a story in the fact that some of her supporters are a bit near-sighted. The “I feel naive” part comes in here. I’d just love for there to be serious analysis of the issues and not the personalities. I’m seeing ‘liberal’ journalists talking about McCain like he’s been some bastion of consistency, when in reality he’s changed his positions many times. I see them focusing on Clinton losing without spending any real time on the misogynistic undertones of the media coverage. And I don’t see real coverage of the actual issues. It’s driving me nutty. 

I read The Times Magazine article about Obama’s economic philosophy and it was really quite interesting. If you haven’t, check it out.