Saturday, November 08, 2008

YES WE DID!

Video: "A Night To Remember" courtesy of The Jed Report

I'd dearly love to paraphrase Gerald Ford's famous quote about Our long national nightmare is now over, but something tells me that we are only at the very beginning of the end of the national nightmare we've been forced to endure for the last eight years. There still remain so many constitutional wrongs to be righted, so many affronts to our personal liberties to be corrected, that it's probably unrealistic for us to expect that one man, our newly elected President Obama, will be able to address all these immediately, but I do have faith in his intrinsic goodness, integrity and honesty to believe that these things will not go neglected.

This remarkable man, who led a truly inspiring campaign to victory against many culturally ingrained odds and prevailed despite all the lies and hateful attacks, has made me so proud. And it's abundantly clear that the rest of the world (for the most part) is on board in cheering his election Tuesday night.... I remember several conversations that Fernymoss and I had last fall when the caucuses and primaries were getting going and I remarked that if Barack Obama were to be elected that it would be an instantaneous boost and corrective to our severely damaged image with the rest of the world. Even then, I had serious doubts that our country was ready to elect a biracial man to our highest office, but as the primaries progressed, I became increasingly hopeful that he could prevail to win the nomination and the presidency. And now it has happened for real and I'm still having a bit of difficulty truly believing that it really happened ... folks, people finally woke up and came out in record numbers (highest turnout since 1908) to make history. I am, after all these painful and depressing last eight years, proud of the promise of our country again ... now if we can only keep up the momentum, we may well be at a transformational turning point in our history. We've accomplished the first step, but there is still so much work to be done on OUR parts to make sure that we stay on the right track.

There's only so much one man can accomplish. But we need to pledge our faith and support to Obama's vision for transforming our politics and country. Really. Seriously. Look back on the insane degree of latitude given to Bu$h by the media after his illegitimate appointment by the Supreme Court back in 2000. At the very least, even those who voted against Obama owe it to our country to give him the benefit of the doubt and cease the scurrilous and downright hateful assaults against his character that were so poisonously lobbed at him during the campaign. Yes, I'm sure he will make missteps at points, but we need to be patient and let him steer the course out of these past eight horrid years.... He's been handed a plate full of nastiness that won't be resolved quickly, so we OWE him our support as he tackles these daunting challenges. Our country has reached the point of near economic collapse, due to the failed "conservative" policies of the last eight years (and since Reagan), and in the recession/depression that is either imminent or already happening, we're going to need some powerful and inspiring leadership, the likes of which we probably haven't seen since FDR. And I truly believe that Barack Obama will provide us with that leadership.

I could go on and on, but I hope I've made my basic point about how stunning his victory was on Tuesday ... I'm still pinching myself and after these few days I think it's finally starting to sink in. I remind myself every morning when I wake up that yes, indeed We Did It and come January 20, he will be our next president. What a relief! After imagining so many nightmare scenarios about how he could be prevented from assuming the office, it now looks that we're on track to have a president who will help bring this nation back from the brink, re-establish our international reputation, and begin to right the innumerable wrongs perpetrated upon our country by his illegitimate predecessor in the office.

Just consider how refreshing it will be to see our President speak at press conferences and such events ...a man who can construct an intelligent and coherent sentence ... who has a wry sense of honest humor ... who has the potential to put us back on a positive track to make us all proud to be citizens of the USA. There are no red states, there are no blue states, there are only the United States of America. Indeed ... I so look forward to that new beginning!

And to end on a lighter note, here's a brief clip of President-Elect Obama answering a question about the new dog soon to occupy the White House. I'm still in awe about how he can imbue such gravity and humor into a subject that many might find trivial, but I think is very weighty ... the choice of the right dog for Malia and Sasha....
I'm eagerly awaiting to see what the new "First Puppy" turns out to be ... One thing I'm pretty sure won't happen is that it will be a Scottish Terrier after that incident yesterday when Barney bit a reporter from Reuters!


14 comments:

Larry Kollar said...

If it only bites Republicans, then it is well-trained!

Gail said...

Beautifully written essay IVG!

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hey FAR,
I have to agree, but if the dog does this and draws blood, I will fear for the life of the dog! :-)

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hi Gail,
Thank you ... such a compliment means a lot to me coming from you!

boran2 said...

I am eagerly awaiting the change in January. It just can't come to soon.

Anonymous said...

Wow... this gave me goosebumps IVG!

I keep waking up and wondering if it's all real :) Today I read that he's going to fix some crap Bush did and there's even talk of stem-cell research/therapy... I could just cry all over again.

Each time I listen to him speak I get the shivers. He wasn't my first pick... but I'm damn glad he's MY PRESIDENT now. Now, we have a chance. We have hope.

I hope the puppy is a rescued dog. I really, really do.

My kids wanted to know if I'm still a "protestor".. of couse I am. There's still Iraq. And WE THE PEOPLE need to make sure things are getting done and help getting them done. :) I got a sense of that from his acceptance speech.

Gotta run... Dinner time.

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hey B2,
My sentiments exactly ... if you hadn't figured that out already! :-)

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hey Janet,
I think I read the same article you did ... about using executive orders to overturn a lot of Bu$h's ones. I was glad to read that and wondered if 1) he's giving too much away by saying what he wants to do, or 2) he's putting him on notice not to try anything else nasty because he will undo it.

No matter what we do have a President we can be proud of now, even though we may need to keep his feet to the fire on certain things.

As for the pup, sounds like they want a shelter dog, but s/he will have to be one that won't aggravate Malia's allergies. Did you see what FAR said above? Tooo funny!

Roses and Lilacs said...

I am hopeful, but really how much can he do? Very little gets done without Congresses fighting and adding trillions in pork barrel spending to everything.

This morning I heard Bush wants to make sure our National Parks are full of oil dereks before he leaves office. What a legacy he leaves. And what a horrendous mess!
Marnie

Anonymous said...

I'm still very hopeful because he's not saying "go shopping and let us big daddy politicians take care of everything"...

He's back to the message, "WE THE PEOPLE"

It's our country. They work for us.

That's how it was supposed to be.

I think apathy and... yes... ignorance took so much of that We the People power away from us.

There's an old saying, "you get the govt you deserve"... but my friend here in Portland who is from the Ukraine says it differently, "you get the government you ignore".

I'm not a citizen only every 4 years. Now we have a person who understands that.

Had a skeery encounter on my lawn this morning. Neighbor told me to take my obama sign down because she "doesn't do politics" and "it's all over now" and something about vandalism... and how she was for McCain. Cripes. And you know what... I couldn't say jack to her because she's a neighbor you know... and her son is also autistic. That's why she was there. To catch the last run of the bus so she could hand him something.

Annie in Austin said...

You really speak from the heart, don't you, IVG? I'm still choking up unexpectedly but am not in a rush to get over the emotional storm of the last week. (Although as you know, after 2 weeks there's a new garden post!)

Today the newscast showed a few minutes of the Obamas and the Bushes viewing the White House together, with all parties looking friendly and forthright.

It was a little thing, but aren't many great things just an accumulation of good little things?

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hi Marnie,
I understand where you're coming from, but that's why we need more and better Democrats in both branches of Congress. Of course, they're not perfect, but they're generally better than the alternative.

BTW, my so-called "D" rep Boswell is a 'Blue Dog Dem' and he had a great guy challenge him in the primary (for whom I voted). Fallon lost, but I wrote him in rather than vote for Boswell anymore. I've only voted for a Repub once (big mistake!), so rather than leaving it blank, Fallon was my protest vote.

Yep, good ole Shrub is trying to push all sorts of crap through before he flees town ... I'm hopeful that Obama will really hand out the executive orders right and left and squelch exactly this kind of stuff!

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hey Janet,
We've got to keep up the spirit, because Barack will need our spiritual support as well as our political support.

I don't remember if I told you that we set up an Obama shrine dedicated to his Guardian Angel about a month before the election ... We keep a 7 day candle going in front of his picture, along with some power crystals and express our positive thoughts there several times a day. So far it seems to be working. :-)

What a horrid encounter you had! We all have neighbors like that, I guess, but dammit, our sign is staying up through the inauguration! She sounds like a nasty person, nonetheless!

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hi Annie!
What a nice compliment, considering that you could have intimated that I speak from some other part of the body, lol. Thank you!

For me it still conjures up powerful emotions, but I've been so crazy/busy with work (10-12 hr days) lately that it's still sinking in, I think.

I agree, let's just keep accumulating those good little things! What a great sentiment....