History in America OR My tiny part in it

On November 4th, 2008, an event that never happened before happened, that I will remember for a very long time. It took me more than 8 years to be in America to see. The government, society and politics seemed to have been interested in stopping it for the longest time. I got to vote... but enough about me... for now...

As most people in the world know, on November 4th, 2008 history was made (yes, most – not sure that the guy speaking in click language in mid-Africa was able to click that there’s a new president in America), when Obama was elected to highest office in the United States, perhaps the world.

Pundits in the media had theories ranging from the accepted new diversity in America to the end of the Reagan-era. I think we need to start a new theory that vowel-to-letter ratio is higher for Obama than it is for McCain, which is the source of his strength. True, it didn’t work for all presidents before, but it’s definitely true now in this particular instance in 2008. Can’t argue with that. As strong an argument as the media has. 2012 elections? Obama needs to pray the Republicans don’t nominate Caesar Sequoia.

Or… it could just be that people got sick and tired of a president and administration that sucks more than a dyson vaccum and blows more than Katrina (pun intended).


They like to say now that this means the end of racism in America. Really? In all of vast land of the United States, there are about 7 houses left that are not about to be forclosed by the banks, and all of them owned by John McCain. And still 46% voted against Obama. Oh right – racism is gone with the wind.
In the popular vote, Obama got 9M more votes than McCain. The media called it a landslide. What does this mean? If 5M of those voters changed their mind the other way (and because of the great 2-party system they would have voted for McCain), McCain would have probably won. 5 millions changing their votes out of about 130M cast.

Want to put that in perspective? An estimated 5.2 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease. They may have wanted to vote for McCain and forgot.
Nearly 5 million Americans have dry eyes – they may have not even seen the names on the ballot.
More than 6 million Americans abuse prescription drugs - They may have wanted to vote McCain but the pink 3-eyed bunny living on their shoulder told them to change their vote.
Really - a landslide.

As I don’t belong to any of those 3 groups (while a few drinks in me would make me see my very own pink bunny, I call him Lloyd Bismol…), my vote for Obama was more valid, or at least I hope so.

So my first presidential vote in the US was a short experience overall. By the way – in my first presidential vote I voted for Obama. Result? He won. In 2006 I got to vote in my first mid-term elections – voted for the Democrats all across. Result? Democrats took back the house for the first time since 1994. Moved to Boston in the end of 2000. New England Patriots result? First Super Bowl championship in history. I’m just saying…

So in that Tuesday we walked to our polling station with Lia in the stroller. The polling station was in the church of a gymnasium. I don’t know about all the lines they were talking about in Ohio of people waiting in the rain for hours, but I know we strolled in directly to the booths that seem so sturdy, I believe mine toppled over because I sneezed. Lia was running around all across so there’s a chance I might have voted for Charles Jay of the Boston Tea Party (couldn’t make up a funnier option - CJ08.com; he also ran in 2004 - his running mate? Marilyn Chambers – a porn star in the 70s – only in America).

But anyway… I voted on all the measures etc. I got chickens to see sun before we use them for our own use, for a speed train from Los Angeles to San Francisco that will probably be built by 2027 when both cities will be under water, and to let all people marry who they want. Not all issues are of the same importance and magnitude… We put the ‘I Voted’ stickers on Lia, who was very proud to take part of the western democracy. Also, the stickers had nice colors to them…

Of course by the time we got back home that evening in California, all was but over, while you wouldn’t have figured that out from the media – they stretched how ‘open it is’ as much they could, while Ohio went to Obama and that meant it was really over.
But for me – I felt I was part of bigger America, and it was quick, anti-cathartic and a little fun. Obama got 68,236,957 votes. I'm responsible for it not being 68,236,956 and that will always be the case, so it's pretty cool.
In Israel we got the day off for election days, which happens about evey 2-3 months. Free from work every election day. Here in the U.S. I worked like crazy that day, and had to email with work back-and-forth while I was voting for the leader of the ‘free world’. Ironic…