WOW

As an American History professor, last night I was really stunned, speechless, and THRILLED at the outcome of the election. Just remarkable. W O W .
And: my sister told me mother did get on board with Obama. I'm proud of both of them.

Housecleaning analogy

This occurred to me the other day talking to a friend. I put it up here not b/c anyone will see it but just to marvel at my ability to make bizarre analogies, which I do all the time in my class. Some work, some are epic. fail. But this one I thought was good.

Top Gun. Great movie from my youth. Got me soooo fired up to go to Annapolis (nominated, but not appointed, and best decision I never made). I've seen it like a hundred times.
Now: by most accounts from pundits and objective analysts, and I think most rational observers would agree, Obama has a preternatural calm. His campaign has been on point, on message, unwavering, steady, deliberative and contemplative (these, BTW are all excellent reasons to vote for him in and of themselves). Unflappable comes to mind. Calm. Reasoned.
McCain on the other hand has wavered between messages and themes, and has been, I think pretty clearly, frenetic, manic, and yes, erratic. (And the proper definition of erratic is irregular and eccentric. It has nothing to do with age. And erratic gets bonus point for being close to 'ersatz' in the dictionary, a nice $2-word.)

Now back to Top Gun. You remember the scene in the beginning, where they first get to Florida and they're in the "target rich environment" and Goose points out the Iceman, and describes him thus: "That's the Iceman. It's the way he flies, ice cold, no mistakes. He wears you down, you get bored--frustrated--do something stupid and bang, he's got ya."

Obama = Iceman. Cool as hell. Unflappable.
McCain = Maverick. Crazy. Gets his friend killed.
And yes, of course, I DO see the irony of "Maverick." So fitting on several levels; makes the analogy work even better.

Know Hope!

Come on - this should have been a no-brainer. But I plan on bringing a book with me to the polling place tomorrow, and I'll wait all day if I have to to vote for Obama.

I do highly recommend the really excellent post from Andrew Sullivan over at The Atlantic about why he endorsed Obama. I forwarded parts of it to my mother, an undecided voter (?!?!) in Michigan, after she and I talked about the election for about 90 minutes the other night. A little taste from Sullivan:

We need to win the argument in the developing world; we need to reach out and persuade the Muslim middle - especially the next generation in Iran and Iraq and Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and Turkey and Western Europe - about the virtues of democracy and constitutionalism. We cannot do that if we trash our own values ourselves. It is self-defeating. We cannot be a beacon to the world until we have reformed ourselves. In this war, we are also fighting for an America that does not lose its soul in fighting our enemy. Just because we are fighting evil does not mean we cannot ourselves succumb to it. That is what my Christian faith teaches me - that no nation has a monopoly on virtue, and that every generation has to earn its own integrity. I fear and believe we have given away far too much - and that, while this loss is permanent, it can nonetheless be mitigated by a new start, a new direction, a new statement that the America the world once knew and loved is back.

It will not be easy. The world will soon remember why it resents America as well as loves it. But until this unlikely fellow with the funny ears and strange name and exotic biography emerged on the scene, I had begun to wonder if it was possible at all. I had almost given up hope, and he helped restore it. That is what is stirring out there; and although you are welcome to mock me for it, I remain unashamed. As someone once said, in the unlikely story of America, there is never anything false about hope. Obama, moreover, seems to bring out the best in people, and the calmest, and the sanest. He seems to me to have a blend of Midwestern good sense, an intuitive understanding of the developing world that is as much our future now as theirs', an analyst's mind and a poet's tongue. He is human. He is flawed. He will make mistakes. His passivity and ambiguity are sometimes weaknesses as well as strengths.

But there is something about his rise that is also supremely American, a reminder of why so many of us love this country so passionately and are filled with such grief at what has been done to it and in its name. I endorse Barack Obama because I will not give up on America, because I believe in America, and in her constitution and decency and character and strength.

I believe in America too, I believe in the, as Lincoln said, "better angels of our nature," and not the politics of division, mendacity (I'm being polite), and neo-McCarthyism.

On political wars

I have been struck lately by the intemperate rhetoric of the election - not only of the candidates (and I truly hope for some karmic retribution for the Republican candidates for their shameful incitements of mobs), but also of their supporters.

I say this as I heard the other day on Howie Carr (I think) someone criticizing and condemning McCain for uttering a friendly remark to Obama. The rationale was - "You can't do that, you don't play nice, you don't compliment your opponent. THIS IS WAR!" Then today I heard some retard named Justin saying that anyone who supported and voted for Obama should be deported and put on boats in the middle of the ocean and *killed*. Seriously. Voting for Obama, in his mind, was an act of treason, and as traitors, all Obama supporters should be put to death.

Now one thing I like about studying history is that you can see past elections and political interactions (1800, 1824 and 1860 come to mind, as does 1936. And I'm reminded of Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge's personal hatred for President Wilson), so this is nothing new. But it's never been directed at *me* before! I don't think I'm a traitor. I worry about how feasible reconciliation will be in the aftermath of the election.