Blue State Blues

After some fun and games with the exit polls, the numbers are in, and it's Bush. However, at 7:04 AM PST, I still project that the sun will come up.

Any analysis I can offer is flawed, woefully subjective, and gleaned from Amtrak stations, the bleachers at Safeco Field, and my brother in law's family in Minnesota. Although I once sat next to a company picnic from Fox News in Section 382, I don't know anyone who actually watches Fox News. However, like everyone else clicking away in disappointment at this moment, I'll throw out my wild guesses, which you've probably heard on CNN at least 45 times in the past five hours:

-Some people outside the U.S. think the zeitgeist about 9/11 has been overblown, but back in 1986, I had friends next in line to ride the Mindbender roller coaster at West Edmonton Mall just before it crashed and killed six people. I'm well aware of all the safety improvements that have been made to roller coasters, and I was nowhere near the thing when it crashed, but damn it, I'm still not getting on one. There are things that some people just can't get over, and while Bush might be evil incarnate, he's still the devil these people know.

-How many times did you hear "John Kerry may not be perfect, but he's the best hope the Democrats have?" If such was the case, why did Kerry begin the primaries way behind Howard Dean, and finish them barely fighting off John Edwards? Yes, Kerry handed Bush his ass and whatever was bulging from the back of his blazer during the debates, but voters never caught any real idea of how things would be different under his administration: send MORE troops to Iraq? Give everyone the same health plan as members of the House and Senate? These were a couple of proposals that upon careful review, were costable and made perfect sense. However, on the surface, they come off as nutty as Howard Dean did when he was screaming his concession speech after the New Hampshire primary. However, the "Dean Scream" can be attributed to being undermic'd in the hall and overmic'd on TV - does Kerry have a similar excuse for his failure to communicate?

-Contrary to what you may have heard a few months ago, Ronald Reagan is not dead. I hold up as evidence the millions of Americans who blame themselves rather than their government and corporate leaders for their unemployment and struggling economy, and move on to dividing up the country on moral and social issues. The best GOTV drives the Republicans had yesterday were the initiatives in 11 battleground states to ban gay marriage, which is odd, considering that the homophobes who flooded these suburban or rural precincts are more than likely situated miles away from the nearest gay or lesbian person. "They're coming for our children" pretty much equates to "Iraq had weapons of mass destruction". Karl Rove was able to reach further into the Republicans' fundamentalist base because the U.N. has yet to investigate the lack of bathhouses in suburban and rural Ohio.

I could go on, since everybody else is, but I'll take a moment to look ahead to the next four years: Americans have made a conscious decision to put their future on hold, and hang on to the post 9/11 era a little longer. When 2008 rolls around, the U.S. may find that the European Union, China, India, and perhaps even Brazil are catching up or passing them. Bush's unilateralism refuted Kerry's multilateralism this time around, in 2008 multilateralism might be the only choice.

While I'm at it, take a moment to think about what people had at stake in these results. There are a lot of people in America who view the Bush victory with despair and fear for their future, especially if they or their children are around the age where they could be shipped to Iraq in a uniform, then shipped home in bodybag. If you know any of these people, drop them a line to say hi, and remind them of their freedom as Americans to travel....for a long time....