Things Change

Things Change

I looked at the calendar today and saw that it's been almost a month since the election.

Four weeks.

28 days since I and millions of my fellow Americans walked into our voting booths and made our selections for whom we wanted to lead us in the upcoming years. We voted for mayors, councilmen, governors, representatives and senators. We voted on money issues, societal issues, school bond issues and who would preside over the courts in our districts. We opted for sheriffs, state congressional members and other officials of low, middle and high rank. But most memorable during this election, as it is every four years in our country, we voted for the person who would be our president. We voted for the individual who would be our national leader and who would become the veritable face of the United States throughout the world.

And at eleven o'clock that evening, the 4th of November in 2008, the projected and ultimately final winner was announced.

It was Barack Obama.

I recall seeing the faces of the people on television when the news of his election was announced. The tears and cheers. The frowns and glum looks. The hands raised in triumph and the red-rimmed eyes of frustration, anger and disappointment.

For better or worse we had a new president.

The voice of the people had been heard and their choice was as very, very clear. We want different. We want new. We do not want the status quo.

We want change. We want change. We want change.

I remember his opponent and his magnanimous concession speech, the heartfelt congratulations to his opponent, the tears standing in the eyes of his vice-presidential running mate. I was humbled and awed by his calm composure and steadiness. My heart bled a little for him as he was my choice, my guy.

I remember the sight of the new president-elect striding across the stage with his pretty wife and two beautiful daughters to the exuberant cheers and joyful shouts of the Democratic faithful in Chicago, his acceptance speech and his calm acceptance of his upcoming duty.

I even kind of liked him at that time.

It wasn't all hearts and flowers during the campaign, of course. A LOT of nasty things were said about each candidate, enough so that you wondered if either of the men could possibly be presidential material. Every flaw that the politicos could come up with was brought forth and shoved in the electorate's face. Every word or phrase that could be misconstrued was misconstrued. Their histories were examined from birth until five minutes ago. Their wins and losses in life were tallied and their lives were so minutely examined as to be ludicrous.

If you believed even half of the stories you heard or read or saw concerning these men generated by the opposing side you were convinced of the monumental inappropriateness of their becoming president. And these stories were brought forth by both sides during the campaign.

Barack Obama was not a citizen, was fast friends with killers and terrorists, was a Muslim, had shady business dealings, was never a leader, was an über liberal, a black nationalist and a drug addict. John McCain was doddering old fool – likely to die at any moment, a computer illiterate, a closet tyrant with a monumental temper and an idiot in his choice of vice president. Neither of them was worth two hoots in hell and if you voted for the wrong one you were sixteen kinds of idiot.

If you believed the ads. If you believed the whispers. If you believed the hype.

I have to admit I got caught up in some of the rhetoric. My man was the ostensible conservative, at least compared to his rival, and therefore I listened to the conservative voices on television and radio. I joined the choir that was being preached to. I don't know as I believed everything I heard from them but I was greatly influenced. Their arguments were persuasive and chilling. I was prepared to shoulder my load, do my duty and vote my man in. But I do have liberal friends and I do respect their judgment. I listened to them and I pondered their words. I thought about what they had said and tried to see their side of things. The world was very different from their viewpoint. They showed me things I hadn't considered or even imagined. They gave me much food for thought.

I won't say I suffered the agonies of indecision in the weeks leading up to the election, but I will say I was swayed in my earlier determination to vote McCain. I was honestly trying to weigh each man and vote my mind and my heart. I was torn and the feeling was mighty uncomfortable.

It wasn't a pleasant time period in America. The mud-slinging ads on the television and the radio became more and more intense, more and more derisive of one candidate, then the other. The money spent on political ads was inconceivable. My mind swirled with suppositions, innuendos, claims, hazy facts, wild accusations and much more indecision.

And the vitriol intensified daily.

I was physically, mentally and emotionally so ready for the election to be over. Over and done with. It seemed the campaign had been going on for years and years and I was so tremendously sick of politics at that time.

We have touch screen voting in the town where I live. You slide an access card similar to a credit card into a slot and you touch the screen at the appropriate spots to make your selections. Your fingertip generates an “x” in a box next to the name of your choice. Very simple and very easy. I believe the first choice on the ballot was for president of the United States. I looked at the choices. I seem to be always surprised that there are more than two. A substantial number of “fringe” candidates are always there – the socialist, the libertarian, maybe a communist or a green or some other peripheral candidate. But the biggies were there. Oh yeah. They might as well have been highlighted. Obama and McCain. There's where the money was. My finger wavered and my vision blurred a bit. You'd have thought that it was I alone who was going to elect the winner. Then my finger settled and hit the box next to McCain. The rest of the ballot, although important, seemed trivial by comparison to the first selection.

When I walked out of the polling place and back to my car I queried myself as to exactly why I'd pulled the trigger for the Republican. How had I arrived at the choice I had made? What process of distillation had occurred to finally condense into a selection? Had one side finally pounded enough ads through my television and into my ears and eyes that I was “conditioned” to make that choice? Had the scare tactics of the right frightened me enough to pull the trigger for the conservative side? Was I influenced by my almost all-white upbringing to bypass the black candidate?

Could I, even now, logically justify my choice?

I have to honestly say that I do not know. More than likely it was a combination of all these influences tempered with as much cold logic as I could muster. At least I hope there was some logic involved. And I hope more earnestly that it was a vote for someone and not against someone.

I think my candidate would have made a good president. I honestly do. I think John McCain is an honorable man, a proven leader and would have made a fine president. And a superb commander-in-chief of the military. I'm not, however, convinced that his choice for vice president was sound. I think he chose with his heart and not his mind. I also think that Ms. Palin, who was the darling of the conservative right, lost McCain a lot of his center-residing constituencies. I liked her. I liked her a lot. I liked her freshness, her confidence and her ability to confront the wrong in her own party as well as her opponents. I liked her down-home accent, her fearlessness and her beauty. I like a whole lot about her. But I didn't agree with all her beliefs. Some of them butted heads with my opinions. Fiercely. But, then again, I disagreed with some of the beliefs of all the people running.

So - there it is.

On January 20, Barack Obama is going to be president of the United States. He's going to have to be the president for all the people in the country, not just the ones who voted for him. All the neocons, the bigots and the rednecks as well as his loyal followers. And all the rest of us just plain ol' Americans.

He's got a lot of work to do and I do not envy him.

I wish him health to perform the duties of his office, I wish him vision to select the right path for the nation and I wish him courage to face whatever challenges that will beset him. And they will.

He was a hell of a candidate.

Let's hope he's a hell of a president.