I didn't know...

First off - what a classy speech from John McCain. His campaign took on some scary tones, but he started to turn that around last night with the classiest move of anyone in the campaign - his concession speech. He took the high road, regained my respect, and had the good sense to step out of the way of the history unfolding before him.

I started to get an inkling of that unfolding history when Chris Matthews on MSNBC started to blather after it became clear Obama would win. At first, he was making all kinds of comment about race and populations in his typically insulting way. But about 10:45, he stopped the broadcast and rendered both Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow speechless (no small feat), and started talking about what the night really meant, the incredible moment in history we were witnessing and the PRIDE, the absolute pride in America he felt that we were able to do this like nowhere else in the world. I stopped. And I said, "Holy shit. He's right."

By the time 11:00 rolled around and Keith called it for Obama, I started to comprehend the signficance - I had voted for a black man for president. The wonder wasn't that though, the wonder was that the true relevance of what I had done did not hit me until then. When I pressed the button in the booth, I voted for who I thought was the best man, for so many reasons. Until 11pm that day, I gave no thought to his race. As I watched cheering crowds from across the nation, I felt like this country began to heal. Really heal its divisions.

Then the clincher - whoever thought to jam that camera in Jesse Jackson's face, a face in the sea of humanity at that park in Chicago and to see him have such an incredible reaction, awestruck with the moment, tear on his cheek, finger over his mouth in quiet contemplation. That is an image that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

The final realization hit me later even. And this was even more powerful. That my son will grow up until he is five, hopefully nine, only knowing... ONLY knowing a black man as president.

-- I have to pause here - and really stop this post... There is nothing left to say. --

Go vote

You must vote. If you don't vote, you insult democracy, you insult the dead generations of Americans who believed in their country and built the world you see around you, you insult our troops who risk their lives daily so that you can sit on your butt, read this blog, and not vote.

Go to Start -> Shut Down -> Shut Down in Windows or Apple -> Shut Down -> Shut Down, get up, go outside and go vote. Don't know where? Go to Google. They will tell you where.

That being said - here's my call:



I've been to Virginia too many times in the past five years - Northern Virginia is more liberal than Western Pennsylvania these days. (Side note - PA is not the nail-biter McCain is trying to make it. Rural PA will always surprise you on how red a blue state can be, but it's less red than it was in 2004.) Ohio is either too conservative for McCain, or too freaked out by Palin, depending on who you ask. That sends Ohio our way. Florida got screwed by the mortgage crisis (or screwed themselves...). Either way, there are enough upset people with extra time on their hands to just barely tip Florida to Obama. That goes ditto for Nevada. Colorado is still buzzing from the convention and has gone towards the center politically, meeting the democrats on their way there in the past four years. Welcome back to sanity, Colorado! New Mexico barely tipped to Bush last year, so is totally vulnerable to even the slightest headwind for Obama, and he has that for sure, they go Obama. Finally, Iowa loves Obama - something I can not explain at all, but hey, there it is. See you all tomorrow in a much brighter world.

Vote on Tuesday

This quote about Sarah Palin was in our local paper today:

“She’s been a mayor, is presently governor of Alaska,” “She’s dealt with oil and gas pipelines. I think she’s well-qualified.”

Yikes. Vote on Tuesday.

I read an article about economic flight from South Africa because of governmental mismanagement. If it can happen there, it can happen here. Bush has led us down the road of national disintegration. Attitudes like this, well she's good enough and she seems alright, will doom America to mediocrity.

Dukakis/Bentsen in 88

Twenty years ago today, I was giving up politics forever. I had spent my first eight years growing increasingly disillusioned with my obsession with Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan to the point of my third grade debate, where (along with the sole Jehovah's Witness in the class, who made poor company supporting a Democrat) I took the side of Walter Mondale to play devil's advocate, and I never really switched back. I'm still not sure if it was my distrust of supply-side economics, or my love for Wendy's Old-Fashioned Hamburgers (which indeed, had "the beef"), but it stuck.

If only everyone would have as much sense as I did when I was eight. (And for some of those nuts who put Ronald Reagan in a class of "great" presidents - To think that eight year old STILL has more sense than you. Amazing.)

So I watched Iran Contra unfold, where Ronald Reagan's administration refused to sit down with a dictator and terrorist (pre-condition or not), but rather funded them through a embezzlement scheme. (Yay Ronald Reagan.) And I waited for 1988.

When it came, I was a fiesty twelve year old, seventh grader getting into bus stop fights defending the man who would not defend himself, Mike Dukakis. (This is true, I ended up with six stitches in the chin and a hospital visit, but my opponent agreed to switch his loyalties, so I count that as a victory.) When he lost, I stayed interested in politics, but really I had given it up. I put up with four more years of Bush's slightly competent leadership, then watched as my man Paul Tsongas went down to the intelligent but flaky Bill Clinton. We all know that story. I just kept seeing flashes of what could have been, had it not for silly tank photos and badly spun answer to a gut wrenching question. 1992 was a hollow victory, because every time I saw Bill and Hillary, it should have been Mike and Kitty's second time. Even though the images and words were right, I kept feeling like I was buying snake oil rather than real ideas.

And well, 2000 and 2004 were just too agonizing for words, but I never really put myself quite as out there as I did in 1988. I think I just assumed the country would have common sense and elect Al Gore, so that snuck up on a lot of us. And John Kerry was the just the best we could do from a list of flawed candidates, who but for 60,000 idiots in Ohio, would have been the 44th President.

But still I think back to 88 and what could have been, what should have been. Click the picture above to join me in a retelling of that dream - what I'll be dreaming about when I go to sleep tonight. 2008 is the start to writing the wrong of that mistake, electing leaders who seek the lowest denominator, the hatemongers who seek to praise this country by tearing its own people down. Too many have passed before who have lived and died for this country for us to tolerate the constitution desecrators who run the show today and who want to stay in charge, for four more years. I'm happy to take six more stitches (figuratively or literally) for Barack Obama. He is a man who will lift us up, not tear us down. This country could really use ideas again. We need to hear about what binds us together, not what tears us apart.

Four more years? No. Seven more days.

Tim Hortons - Meadville

Tim Hortons is now open in Meadville. Today is grand opening. I was not first in line, disappointingly. But, they were still there when I got there.

Also, it looks like the same guy who opened the East 12th St. shop is the owner of this one too. My old boss at my old job talked with him and told me a cool story about how he and his wife came down from Nova Scotia to open a Tim Hortons. It's very good to see he's got three of them now.

Go forth and eat Timbits!