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…
Showing posts with label Voting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Voting. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Voting In America - OR The Chaos Theory
So we’re deep into 2008 and America is going through the most something primary season elections in history. Exciting, close, long, frustrating. You pick.
As I’m writing this, the race, definitely on the Democratic side, is still quite open that the media coronate winners only infrequently. That said, Obama seems like he has a big chance of winning.
Part of what is being said is that him being elected is going to be ‘good for America’s perception around the world’, as he’s African-American. How should I say this? America, no one cares about your president’s skin color other than you, ok? Russians – not really going to mind much that he’s black. Chinese – probably never saw a black man in their lives. African-non-Americans? (as in people in Africa) – I’m sure that as Mikalo runs away from Cheetahs, rebels and flesh-eating-locus, he would do this with a smile on his face as he is reassured that the president of that country over the ocean that wouldn’t cut any of the mounting debt has the same skin color as him. At least until the locus gets him. So no – no impact whatsoever. The American president launching wars or not would probably have a slightly stronger impact on the way the world perceives America than his skin color.
The trend right now is that Americans love Obama. He’s truly like a rock star – in his speeches the audience screams uncontrollably and obnoxiously – ‘I love you, Barack’, and he responds without flinching ‘and you know I love you too’. He is very much like U2’s Bono. Only Bono has a bit more political experience than him. Don’t get me wrong – I’m very inspired by the guy. Half way through him 2004 speech, I said that one day he’ll run for presidency. But I’m a bit concerned that when he gets into the oval office, he’ll need to google for ‘best agriculture secretary’ and ‘best energy secretary’ to set up his new administration. His rolodex has two entries total, and both under O – Obama, Michelle, and Oprah.
Clinton and Obama offer very different things. Skin color aside, the outcome of these elections that seem likely to go to the Democratic side, will impact the entire world. And how is this being decided? By the perfect Democratic process in America, where people make rational and practical decisions about the future for their families and communities.
‘No, but seriously’ you must say. And you’d be right. So here’s the first couple of paragraphs that came out on Time magazine’s cover story a week before the historic Super-Tuesday or the politically sensitive term Americans of course used: ‘Tsunami Tuesday’. And that Americans equate the political primaries in a single Tuesday to the sudden tragic death of hundreds of thousands of people in numerous countries only two years earlier, caused by nature’s cruelest force, is not one of the reasons people don’t like Americans. Oh no – they hate us for our freedom.
But here goes:
Oh yes – there’s something about an 18-year-old. Only Time magazine can be so diplomatic and define that certain something as ‘can’t abide careful hedging and cautious steps’. Or as anyone who knows 18-year-olds would call it – lack of coherent thought process at best, and stupidity at worst. And the fact that Obama is attracting ‘the youth’ is supposed to be a positive factor for me. Obama getting the retarded voter is supposed to make me want to vote for him? I’m sorry - that’s not nice. Some retarded people vote very rationally.
But back to the article. So in the great tradition of the great American princess, Maddie is affecting the faith of the world, and her mother – a U.S. senator mind you, of course bended to the whims of her threatening bitchy daughter. The article focused throughout on the higher political activism in these primaries. It didn’t mention in any way or form the fact that Maddie has single-handedly changed the course of the world by doing what a classic teenage girl in America is doing to her hard-working parents – throwing a tantrum that can be associated with a 3-year-old and threatening her parents in a way that if it would be a character in a Hollywood movie would be discounted as over-the-top.
At this point, you might say that I am hard on our little Maddie. After all, she just threatened not to talk to her mother. Not nice, but she could have done worse, you would defend her with futility. So let me tell you the next chapter in this Jerry Springer story. A couple of weeks later, our mother-of-the-year senator was a guest on Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO. They spoke specifically about her daughter’s influence on her endorsing Obama. McCaskill responded to that by saying “it wasn’t ‘mommy, please’, it was Maddie in my face saying, ‘how can you look yourself in the mirror, you’re a slut’…” (don’t believe me? here’s the video: http://bradhaller.blogspot.com/2008/02/mccaskill-on-maher.html). And this is what the senator is disclosing for the national media. I wonder what the little princess said when she was hungry and tired that she’s afraid to mention now…
Two quite different candidates – different gender, race, age, experience, plans for the American education, health care and war. The Missouri senator wanted to be neutral. But Maddie said ‘You have to do it, or I’m never talking to you again, you slut’, so Senator McCaskill endorsed Obama. And the world will never be the same again. This is just one state battle in the overall 2008 democratic war. But want to know how this ended? It’s not that this had no effect, and that either Clinton or Obama would have won big anyway. Oh no. Obama ended up winning Missouri by 1.2%, or 10,200 votes out of more than 800,000 cast. And would one state's results change everything? Both sides agreed that Obama's momentum started on the super-Tuesday that the Missouri elections happened.
Hey senator! A couple of tips for you. One more slut-like comment, and Maddie’s credit cards are cut. Next time Maddie is in your face? Maddie now pays for her own tuition. And next time Maddie gives you thought-out political advice that you act upon? As a punishment for both, you need to take an ambassadorship mission to a place your behavior can’t hurt America so you can cool off that urge-to-endorse, like Antarctica. And even if Maddie falls in love with the cutest, most adorable, most charismatic creature, you still can’t endorse any penguin.
As I’m writing this, the race, definitely on the Democratic side, is still quite open that the media coronate winners only infrequently. That said, Obama seems like he has a big chance of winning.
Part of what is being said is that him being elected is going to be ‘good for America’s perception around the world’, as he’s African-American. How should I say this? America, no one cares about your president’s skin color other than you, ok? Russians – not really going to mind much that he’s black. Chinese – probably never saw a black man in their lives. African-non-Americans? (as in people in Africa) – I’m sure that as Mikalo runs away from Cheetahs, rebels and flesh-eating-locus, he would do this with a smile on his face as he is reassured that the president of that country over the ocean that wouldn’t cut any of the mounting debt has the same skin color as him. At least until the locus gets him. So no – no impact whatsoever. The American president launching wars or not would probably have a slightly stronger impact on the way the world perceives America than his skin color.
The trend right now is that Americans love Obama. He’s truly like a rock star – in his speeches the audience screams uncontrollably and obnoxiously – ‘I love you, Barack’, and he responds without flinching ‘and you know I love you too’. He is very much like U2’s Bono. Only Bono has a bit more political experience than him. Don’t get me wrong – I’m very inspired by the guy. Half way through him 2004 speech, I said that one day he’ll run for presidency. But I’m a bit concerned that when he gets into the oval office, he’ll need to google for ‘best agriculture secretary’ and ‘best energy secretary’ to set up his new administration. His rolodex has two entries total, and both under O – Obama, Michelle, and Oprah.
Clinton and Obama offer very different things. Skin color aside, the outcome of these elections that seem likely to go to the Democratic side, will impact the entire world. And how is this being decided? By the perfect Democratic process in America, where people make rational and practical decisions about the future for their families and communities.
‘No, but seriously’ you must say. And you’d be right. So here’s the first couple of paragraphs that came out on Time magazine’s cover story a week before the historic Super-Tuesday or the politically sensitive term Americans of course used: ‘Tsunami Tuesday’. And that Americans equate the political primaries in a single Tuesday to the sudden tragic death of hundreds of thousands of people in numerous countries only two years earlier, caused by nature’s cruelest force, is not one of the reasons people don’t like Americans. Oh no – they hate us for our freedom.
But here goes:
Senator Claire McCaskill is the highest-ranking Democrat in Missouri, and
Missouri picks Presidents. The Show-Me State has voted for the winner in 25 of
the past 26 elections. This is why the contenders for the Democratic
presidential nomination fought so hard for McCaskill's endorsement. As her wary
advisers helped her weigh the risks and rewards of siding with powerful Hillary
Clinton or charismatic Barack Obama, neutrality began to look appealingly
safe.
But there's something about an 18-year-old that can't abide careful
hedging and cautious steps. The Senator's daughter Maddie Esposito had seen the
way her mother teared up whenever she heard Obama speak. And now it was
happening again as mother and daughter sat side by side on the family-room sofa
in a suburb of St. Louis, watching the results of the Iowa caucuses on TV. "You
know you believe in him," Maddie admonished her damp-eyed mother. "It's time to
step up." The next morning, Maddie, a college freshman home for the holidays,
added a threat: "You have to do it, or I'm never talking to you
again."
McCaskill endorsed Obama — a big boost in an important Super Tuesday
primary state. And the story of that endorsement is the Democratic-nomination
battle etched in miniature. Kids like Maddie Esposito are the muscle of Obama's
army. (Time Magazine 1/31/08)
Oh yes – there’s something about an 18-year-old. Only Time magazine can be so diplomatic and define that certain something as ‘can’t abide careful hedging and cautious steps’. Or as anyone who knows 18-year-olds would call it – lack of coherent thought process at best, and stupidity at worst. And the fact that Obama is attracting ‘the youth’ is supposed to be a positive factor for me. Obama getting the retarded voter is supposed to make me want to vote for him? I’m sorry - that’s not nice. Some retarded people vote very rationally.
But back to the article. So in the great tradition of the great American princess, Maddie is affecting the faith of the world, and her mother – a U.S. senator mind you, of course bended to the whims of her threatening bitchy daughter. The article focused throughout on the higher political activism in these primaries. It didn’t mention in any way or form the fact that Maddie has single-handedly changed the course of the world by doing what a classic teenage girl in America is doing to her hard-working parents – throwing a tantrum that can be associated with a 3-year-old and threatening her parents in a way that if it would be a character in a Hollywood movie would be discounted as over-the-top.
At this point, you might say that I am hard on our little Maddie. After all, she just threatened not to talk to her mother. Not nice, but she could have done worse, you would defend her with futility. So let me tell you the next chapter in this Jerry Springer story. A couple of weeks later, our mother-of-the-year senator was a guest on Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO. They spoke specifically about her daughter’s influence on her endorsing Obama. McCaskill responded to that by saying “it wasn’t ‘mommy, please’, it was Maddie in my face saying, ‘how can you look yourself in the mirror, you’re a slut’…” (don’t believe me? here’s the video: http://bradhaller.blogspot.com/2008/02/mccaskill-on-maher.html). And this is what the senator is disclosing for the national media. I wonder what the little princess said when she was hungry and tired that she’s afraid to mention now…
Two quite different candidates – different gender, race, age, experience, plans for the American education, health care and war. The Missouri senator wanted to be neutral. But Maddie said ‘You have to do it, or I’m never talking to you again, you slut’, so Senator McCaskill endorsed Obama. And the world will never be the same again. This is just one state battle in the overall 2008 democratic war. But want to know how this ended? It’s not that this had no effect, and that either Clinton or Obama would have won big anyway. Oh no. Obama ended up winning Missouri by 1.2%, or 10,200 votes out of more than 800,000 cast. And would one state's results change everything? Both sides agreed that Obama's momentum started on the super-Tuesday that the Missouri elections happened.
So here you go America and world. Whatever happens next – good or bad – thank Maddie who threatened her mother by not talking to her. It is not much known that many world events happened in much of the same way. It is little known for example that Henry VIII made an important decision after Elizabeth I was willing to get out of her room only after daddy promised he’d unite England and Wales into one unified nation.
Hey senator! A couple of tips for you. One more slut-like comment, and Maddie’s credit cards are cut. Next time Maddie is in your face? Maddie now pays for her own tuition. And next time Maddie gives you thought-out political advice that you act upon? As a punishment for both, you need to take an ambassadorship mission to a place your behavior can’t hurt America so you can cool off that urge-to-endorse, like Antarctica. And even if Maddie falls in love with the cutest, most adorable, most charismatic creature, you still can’t endorse any penguin.
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