(no subject)

[vernard]

First off, thanks to everyone that commented on my post about how the election of a Black president did not signal the realization of Martin Luther King's famouse "I have a Dream" speech. Many of you posted commentary and sparked a discussion that I considered both insightful and helpful.

So obviously Obama won. I had the pleasure last night of watching the returns come in at a bar with a few other LJ-ers including becket, modernmusketeer, waterdaughter and dustyskinandall. Last week, I had planned last week to spend election night at home with a nice bottle of scotch but it was infinitely more fun to hang out with friends and mercilessly mock anything and everything that came by on the TV screen. As it were, fate had the TV on CNN at Meehan's bar so we had plenty to work with. Nothing like reporting that with 0% of the precints in both Obama and McCain had 0% of the vote. Like we couldn't figure that out for outselves. This of course set off a wonderful discussion on whether or not they were going to be kind enough to give us the results from other more notable precints such as Narnia, Middle Earth, and Oz. I personally think that Oz is gonna be a tough call. The Flying Monkeys are most definitely a swing vote. :-)

I even managed to avoid the taunts of a few drunk McCain supporters that didn't seem to understand that just because I was the only remotely Black person within eyesight didn't mean that I was a suitable subject for all their unhappiness about the way the election was going. Lucky for them I didn't want to upset the wonderful evening of my companions. 'Cause the thought of cashing that reality check was very strong in my mind at the time.

So now we have a new president. I would like to take this time to address both "sides" of this election:

If you supported Obama. Congrats. Now its time to live up to the hype. Its not about winning, its about making a better tomorrow for everyone. One of the key components of Obama's message has been "sacrifice". That we are going to have to give up some of the things that we want and possible need to change the future for the better. Nothing comes for free and if we want to take ourselves off the path that we are currently on, its going to take some serious committment into following through on the hard decisions. Getting less. Giving more. Being content and knowing that what we do will make it much better tomorrow.  Gloating ain't part of that deal.

If you supported McCain.  Congrats. You backed a candidate that actually brought dignity back to the concession speech. The number of folks that have said that the McCain that they saw represented in that speech was inspiring, noble, dignified and dare I say it, Presidential. This harkens back to the days when McCain was trying to get the Republican party nomination four years ago as well as this year. He reasonably changed his message a bit when he was trying to defeat the Democrats as that was a different battle but in his speech, his essence shown through. As a supporter, its time for you to heed his words and extend your hands to all other Americans and work torwards the common goal of addressing the Nation's problems and building a better future for all Americans. If your candidate can do this, then so can you.

Comments

[leopard-print.livejournal.com]

Dude. I'm glad I wasn't there to see that. I would've hated to go to jail on assault charges on election night. Still, at least it would've been a good cause.

Looking forward to seeing you tonight :)

[unrepentant.livejournal.com]

Mmmm.... Scotch! We need to have a night of Scotch at your place.

[teague.livejournal.com]

It was insane over here last night. We could hear Bethune Cookman from our house, and we're at least 4 miles away. People were shooting fireworks, and yelling out car windows. I can't wait to see what sort of chaos ensued. But that's me. I love dark carnival shinanagans.

I'm sorry about the idiots. I remember the look I passed with my young black male coworker when we overheard someone speculating that women would vote for Clinton because she's a woman. I remember back then I was kind of leaning towards Obama, because I liked his message, and his youth. My overies weren't qualified to vote, and had no opinion. I'd imagine the same is true of your skin. For all those idiots knew you were a deeply conservative Christian, who was upper income and owned a lot of property. I know you don't dress flashy, but I've never known you to dress slobby unless you were working physically. So they couldn't know. Idiots.

If you didn't get the chance to read one of the first posts I made yesterday, I agreed with you. Just getting the guy in office means nothing if we're not going to keep pushing for the things we elected him for to begin with. He can't do it alone. And yes, we'll make sacrifices. Like I said in my post, when ever you feel like whining about it, go visit a grandparent, or stately aunt or uncle. Anyone who lived through the Depression. Let them point and laugh at you. That'll put you in your place.

[waterdaughter.livejournal.com]

I had such a good time with you guys last night. :) Michael and I were both saying how glad we were that we came!

That guy...heh. I too wanted to lodge his beer glass where the sun don't shine.

[uxmal.livejournal.com]

what, not even a little gloating?

Yesterday I had someone basically tell me that a long haired hippy freak Democrat had no business at DoD. And he was genuinely confused. Smallest taste of your folks in the bar there...

[becket.livejournal.com]

Wow. I must have been drunk or in the parking lot smoking to miss the redneck taunting stuff. I haven't been in a good barfight in YEARS. Dammit. I even had my screwdriver on me.