actually opening my mouth on the subject...

[sprinklethief]

okay, so i've watched this thing from a non-partisan view (though my beliefs are technically socialist, so i don't even have a part in american politics). because of this, i've heard opinions from every side, some of which chilled me to the bone. i work around a great deal of old people, so i've heard some very narrow-minded, old-timey bullshit. i've heard the rich, i've heard the poor, i've heard the formerly rich and so on all voice their opinion. i watched candidates words be turned around on them, the meaning completely misconstrued, things taken out of context and just good ol' fashioned mud slinging.

but what i saw last night was amazing. i think mccain's concession speech was very classy, though the crowd reactions were immature. obama's speech was very hopeful, and i noticed the crowd cheered when he spoke about mccain's campaign. big difference there. but what really struck me, what really just knocked me on my ass, was - while watching obama's speech - i realized i was listening to our next president. a black president. and suddenly i got really excited. yes, it would be considered racist to get excited over a white president for being white, but the tremendous message sent to the nation by the act of electing a man who's skin color would have once gotten him banned from stores, bathrooms, water fountains, restaurants, etc can now run our country, and i think that speaks volumes about how far we've come.

it was at that moment i remembered the smug faces of three sweet little old ladies i've encountered over the last year. one who told me that "i ain't voting for no liberal-ass porch monkey!" after engaging me in conversation for about 10 minutes about her grandchildren and being as sweet and cute as can be. another old lady who said she "didn't trust" obama's name so she was voting for a nice american name like mccain (which is irish...). and still another who proudly proclaimed that she "ain't no nigger lover" and is "mccain all the way!" the last one i asked point blank what she thinks of his healthcare policy (mccain's) and she said she had no idea what it was. i asked her what she thought of his ideas on how to handle the housing crisis, and she'd said she'd never read anything about them.

i thought of the blind hate that these three old ladies spewed all over me, and i wanted to see their faces when it was announced that the liberal-ass porch monkey with the name we can't trust won the presidency. i wanted to see the faces of people that have felt is necessary to drop n-bombs around me assuming that since i'm white, it was okay. i wanted to see these people's faces when they realized that their mindsets are out of date and that yes, we finally can judge a man not based on the color of his skin, but the content of his character like martin luther king jr had once dreamed of. it made me actually a little proud to be a part of this nation, which is something i haven't felt in almost a decade.

it was then i realized that i, for the first time in a very, VERY long time, was feeling something. something i couldn't pinpoint, something that was unfamiliar to me. it was hope. and its still with me today.

so here's to our president elect, and here's to the classy way in which mccain handled a landslide defeat with dignity. thank you america, for not being the bunch of racist backwoods assholes like the world has pointed us out to be. thank you, for giving me hope.

Comments

[dv8productions.livejournal.com]

As a Socialist myself, what you've typed out here was basically what I felt last night, verbatim.

Except for the bit about the old-school racist people realizing last night that their mindsets are out of date.

A few might have, and as the next months and years go on, and Obama (hopefully) proves himself, another few handfuls of people will come around.

But generally, I don't think individual people change their thinking patterns without having some sort of major epiphany, a spiritual awakening, or a close encounter with death. Something major, personal; Earth-shattering. It's hard enough for a 20- or 30- something to admit to themselves that they've been wrong all along-- by the time you've been thinking one way for 50, 60, 70 years, it's virtually impossible.

In general, I think events like last night only further entrench these types of people into their wrong thinking patterns. It's not them who doesn't think right, it's the rest of the country. Their new thinking will be that the whole damn country has gone to hell in a handbasket being carried by "liberal-ass porch monkey lovers".

But anyways.

To new-found hope! :)

[waffles2poles.livejournal.com]

Beautiful way of putting it. That is how I felt.

I have my closed minded jack assery story that I'm going to post.

My gf is waaay left. I tend to lean quite heavy to the left but not enough to not see others point of view. She kept call MCcain a loser when he lost and "HA HA in your face!" type reaction. Although I was relieved that Obama won, I felt also sad for MCcain. He is a good man, even if I don't believe in his stances for the most part. I wouldn't have been happy if he won but it would have been a little comforting if he didn't have Palin running with him.

He was a total class act in his defeat and I actually believe that he will support Obama in getting this deficet crisis handled.

So, cheers to Obama!