Barack Hussein Obama is the President Elect of the United States of America! Not only has he won but he has won a crushing victory. He won both Ohio and Florida - states that were each pivotal in the last two elections. He won Virginia and is winning in Indiana, North Carolina and Montana, states that Republicans would never have dreamed could go into the Democratic column.
It's looking now (it's late where I am) that Obama could get around 364 electoral votes, possibly 367. This is a great day for African Americans and I am very happy for them. I can't imagine the joy they must feel right now. But make no mistake this is not just their moment. This is a victory for a national movement that involved people of all races, ages, genders and regions.
As I write this, Prop 8 in California is too close to call. I can't express how much I hope it fails.
It's a new dawn!
6 comments:
Yay Obama! Yay all of you who voted Obama!
I'm feeling rather worried about Prop 8 right now though (and wanting the names & addresses of the 1,891,734 Californians that the LA Times is currently saying voted yes - got some visiting & shouting at to do next time I'm in town).
If Prop 8 wins it will be LA's fault and African American's fault. The LA Times is reporting that with 100% of the LA County votes in, the yes vote edged out the no vote 50.4 to 49.6.
Here is a CNN exit poll on the issue but the numbers don't ad up and I think this is a rather sloppy exit poll. So take these numbers are probably off somewhat but the gross levels of support among the various groups are probably more or less accurate. One thing that is probably correct is that something like 70% of African Americans voted to take existing liberties away from other Americans.
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#CAI01p1
I have to say that I doubt this is a racial issue. I suspect strongly that it is a religious issue. College educated Non-Whites were solidly for prop 8 but non-college educated Non-Whites were solidly against it. Why? Church. College educated non-whites are more likely to be frequent church goers than either non-college educated non-whites or college educated whites.
If Prop 8 wins it will have done so with significant support from Democrats (about 35%). Why? Because Prop 8 is what happens when political debate in this country is restricted to an argument between the Religious Left and the Religious Right.
Yes, it was the Religious Right that took the lead pushing Prop 8 but I would bet dollars to donuts that if we dug into that 35% of Democrats who seem to have voted for Prop 8 we'd find that they are significantly more likely to attend church at least once a week than the Democrats who voted no on Prop 8.
I'm not saying it is fully determinative. Obviously LTG goes to church a lot and voted no on 8 - along with most of his congregation. But his congregation is a tiny blip in the great mass of American, and apparently even Californian, Christianity.
The vote in LA was closer than statewide, although still (barely) yes. So it's not the fault of our county that it passed, any more than any other region that voted for the measure. It's sad, but at least it was very close. Maybe next time.
It's LA's fault because LA should have known better.
Prop 8 aside for a moment:
I worked the polls yesterday and we were busy all day and I saw a lot of new voters pass through. Many for the first time ever. In fact, for the first time, I say more people under 55 voting than people over 55 in my precinct. My cot-workers were in their late 20s early 30s. That was so good to see in a town that has a reputation of "newly wed, nearly dead". Of course, I haven't worked my precinct in a while. I've been working a gray haired precinct on the opposite side of town the last couple of elections.
Another comment on Obama. It's a victory for African Americans, but it is also a victory for Generation X, the Sesame Street Generation that was raised on tolerance. Obama represents our ascension into power. And more than that, he was raised predominately by his grandparents. I was too. And we carry a special set of values that call back to national unity, pragmatism, country before self, and duty. And I really hope that these values will predominate. The road ahead is not smooth and all the nice sentiments that many Republicans are now expressing will wash out in the end. But when Obama asks the American people to stand up and serve, they will. They've just been waiting for the chance! And I love that there was a whopping, impromptu celebration in front of the White House last night. Now I pray that God , country, and the secret service keep Obama and his family safe from those far right whack-jobs who would seek to do them harm.
I also want to note that many local elections that asked for sales tax increases to pay for things like public transit passed. They PASSED in times of inflation and economic collapse. So people are showing that they are ready to step up and to pay for the services that we desperately think we need. These are services that the middle and lower classes need. Republicans would do well to take note of that when the call comes for changes to income taxes.
An additional note:
RBR mentioned that in his hometown, people had yard signs for Obama that had come from the primaries.
My mother told me today that in my hometown, people had their Obama/Biden signs were getting stolen from people's yards (I guess there is a shortage? I hope it wasn't vandals) And that she had posted hers on the inside of the picture window so that it wouldn't disappear. Other people cased their Obama/Biden signs in concrete to deter theft and they were still getting stolen.
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