From Russia, with love

Reflections on elections past:
1988-my mom let me in the voting booth with her so I could pull down the lever of the voting machine, helping to vote against Dukakis in Pennsylvania. Even then I had a thrill about politics, but it mainly resulted from hearing the noise the machine made when I pulled the lever.

1992-Oak Ridge Elementary held a mock election with all of us being able to vote for Bush, Clinton, or Perot. Guess who this young'un voted for? Ross freakin' Perot. I was already an Independent in 3rd grade, apparently. I also did not watch the news, apparently.

1996-Now in middle school, I remember staying up and watching the election returns, knowing Dole was facing a crushing defeat. Even then I was thrilled about calling states and the analysis, the awakenings of the political nerd I would later become.

2000-I hated Gore, but I didn't know much about Bush. I remember the agonizing wait on Florida, the pregnant and dimpled chads, the mentions of "strategery" and "lock boxes." If only I had known then what our country was headed for. It all felt so hopeless after Bush was finally declared the winner, and I remember thinking it was a sign of trouble to come.

2004-my first election I could vote in, and I could have CARED LESS. I didn't like Kerry OR Bush, but at least Kerry afforded me the opportunity to briefly touch John Cusack when he campaigned at NMSU.

2008-I was glued to the returns all night, screaming with excitement when they called the election (which you could tell they were dying to do after OH and PA went to Obama, but weren't allowed to), tears in my eyes watching the speech President-elect Obama made in front of tens of thousands in Chicago. I poured my heart and soul into this election, the first one I ever really cared about. I sat, enraptured, as Obama spoke at UNC during the primaries. I read every political website, every blogpost, and watched every news broadcast, and for the first time when they called that election, I actually felt so fucking proud to be in this country. After being ashamed for eight years, I was beaming with pride. We broke the color barrier. And we all broke it down together, uniting 62 MILLION strong to vote for Obama.

I think that this generation is largely responsible. My parents were raised by parents who were still harboring racism and resentment, but me and my fellow youth more often than not were raised by parents who preached tolerance and acceptance of everyone, regardless of color or religion. To me, I couldn't even comprehend why people wouldn't vote for someone because his skin was a different color. And finally, most of America realized how ridiculous that was too. We can finally say we are a post-racial nation. I'm so proud to be a part of that, and to have witnessed this great moment in history.

Of course, my only hope now is that Obama follows through and fixes things. We all knew that whoever won would face a shithole of a country. We all knew that this person was going to have to have the kind of leadership exhibited by Lincoln in the Civil War and Roosevelt in the Depression. I really think Obama is that kind of leader, and he is smart enough to surround himself with the people who can HELP him be that leader. So Godspeed, Barack.

One worry--Russia is the only country who gave us a giant middle finger when they would not congratulate Obama and instead, as Putin sat with a terrifyingly stony face in the audience, the president of Russia talked about how they pretty much still hate us for the whole Georgia thing. I really worry about Russia, more so than most countries. Could there be another Cold War? I always thought I was lucky to have been so young when the first one ended, I never knew the fear associated with nuclear arms proliferation. But will this, rather than Al-Queda, be our next big threat? I don't know, but I hope we have the right people in office now to deal with it.