The first election of George W. Bush was the low point of my life as an American citizen. I was engaged in the campaign, I understood the importance of that election, of building on the prosperity and promise of the Bill Clinton era and keeping the country moving progressively forward. I recognized that Bush represented the exact opposite of that promise. The bipartisanship that was built during the Clinton presidency, the level of personal attacks and efforts to constantly derail any constructive legislation or policy, created the widest political chasm between those on the left and those on the right. The almost daily assault on everything Clinton was coming fast and furious from every corner of Capitol Hill, off the pages of the nation’s most radically conservative newspapers, talk radio shows, and the greatest propaganda-generating machine in American history: Fox News. Such was the level of venomous hatred for the president that I think most Americans were grateful that a change was coming and that perhaps no matter who would be the next occupant of the White House, that change would have to settle the flames of bitter bipartisanship. But what I saw in a Bush administration caused me much more concern than I had ever felt for any previous presidential candidate in my lifetime.
His inexperience in the political arena, his dreadfully failed business endeavors, his dishonorable adventures with the National Guard and avoidance of the Vietnam War, and his quick rise to national prominence caused me much apprehension. His handlers seemed to be holding all of the strings and he was playing so hard to the neo-con, Christianofascist base of the GOP, that the fears of this nation regressing backwards and approaching a more theocratic form of government frightened me more than any cold war had ever! The likes of Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, James Dobson, and radical groups representing these evil men were essentially promising to deliver that voting bloc to Bush. But at what price? Everything in Washington comes at a steep price.
What did I talk about during the campaign? I warned people of the very real prospects that our next executive leader of this country would likely be called upon to replace anywhere from one to three members of the Supreme Court. This was the single most severe threat to our nation’s motto of “Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness!” The writing was on the wall, but people either refused to look at it or didn’t want to think that our nation could move in such a radically backwards direction. I was frightened for our future. How could anything be any more alarming than a G.W. Bush presidency? I found out four years later.
Determined to do everything in my power to try and right the ship in 2004, I hit the ground running. Being a full-time college student kept me fully engaged in the debate, but I needed to do more. I volunteered my free time to assist the Democrats in unseating Bush and fighting back the advances of the radical right. Since no vacancies had opened up on the Supreme Court during Bush’s first term, I was grateful for what appeared to be an incredible opportunity to avoid the further tarnishing of the nation’s highest court. There was no doubt that the next four-year term would not be the same, and so I echoed my alarm at the prospect of having Bush determine the fate of the nation’s freedoms. I went to organizational meetings, I stood on street corners waiving signs (and deflecting some very un-Christian-like gestures), and talking with anyone who care to indulge me. I worked tirelessly to save this nation from what I clearly viewed as a disastrous continuation of the previous four years. I argued with people at the grocery store, in the parking lot, at the convenient store, and all over campus. When Bush was elected (?) for that second term I was as beaten, battered, and bruised as I had ever been previously. I was so completely overwhelmed with such an enormous sense of dread for my country that I wasn’t sure if and how I would recover. At the time I was taking a psychology class in college and if it weren’t for that curriculum and some private one-on-ones with the professor, I might not have survived that period.
I hoped for the best but braced for the worst! And the worst came! A further escalating of isolation for the nation on the global stage and the replacement of two justices on the Supreme Court that created a sharp shift towards elitism and theocracy. The debacle in Iraq was growing worse on a daily basis, Osama bin Laden was still on the loose, the economy was teetering, jobs were being shipped outside of our nation’s borders at an alarming rate, gas prices were starting to take off and the fundamentalists who delivered the second term to Bush were in D.C. looking to cash in on their dirty work. That dark cloud of dread grew by the day. The assault on the Constitution continued unabated! But instead of packing it up and moving to Canada (which was seriously considered at one point), I was determined to dig in and fight for the country that I believed in. No matter what, there could be no more Bush beyond 2008, though even that promise seemed in doubt at times. Who knew what these people were capable of doing? It was clear to me that it was Karl Rove and Dick Cheney behind the curtain, pulling all of the strings, making all of the decisions, and plunging our nation further and further into shambles and global shame and disrespect! The nation’s welfare policies had been effectively transferred from the citizens who needed it to put food on the table and to clothe and keep warm their families to corporations who wanted to increase their exorbitant profits. Fox News had captured nearly the entire GOP base, feeding the sheep exactly what they wanted to hear on a daily basis and effectively eliminating any healthy debate between to the two groups of extremes from both parties.
But something stayed with me from the 2004 Democratic National Convention. A young state senator from Illinois took the to podium and delivered a moving and motivating speech, so eloquent and so charming, that it captured an entire segment of the nation and made us all think, albeit briefly, that there was hope for our future. My grandmother, who has spent her entire life in Massachusetts, called me and spoke of this man in a way and in a manner that she said she had not felt since the arrival of JFK on the political scene decades ago. She couldn’t even pronounce his name, but she told me then that he was someone special, that he was going to make a pronounced mark on this nation. And when his name first was being bandied about as a possible candidate for high office, she called me and asked if I could find her a bumper sticker for her car. I did and she proudly displayed the name of Barack Obama on her car before most people were even aware of just who that person was. I was reenergized. I started to believe once again that we could make positive change in this country and that I too could make a difference. It’s been a long road and it has been a brutally nasty campaign. Throughout it all, Obama has displayed a cool and balanced temperament, refusing to lower himself down into the pits of pathetic and desperate mudslinging and personal attacks. When John McCain (or someone in the GOP) selected Sarah Palin as his running mate, I knew it was over. Eight years of radical Republican domination and a brutal assault on the U.S. Constitution was about to meet its demise.
I went out and stood at one of the polling places in my neighborhood for a few hours on Election Day. I just stood there with my Obama-Biden sign and smiled at everyone going past. I spoke very little, unless someone asked me a legitimate question. But I refused to engage in any more debate, no more venomous shouting and screaming, no more name-calling and mudslinging. It was time to make history and I wanted to savor the moment and, even more importantly, I wanted to be the lone Obama-Biden supporter buried in a sea of blue and gold McCain-Palin support. Living in a predominantly red part of the state, Obama supporters had been seriously underrepresented on street corners, sign displays, alarming mail-outs, and viciously misleading TV and radio advertisements. I just wanted others who believed in this new direction for our nation to know that they were not alone. And the looks and smiles that I got from about one out of every four-seven people who walked by was the greatest feeling that I had felt in a very, very long time. When the polls closed up at 7 PM, I packed up for the last time and headed home to watch the returns with my family. I was cautiously optimistic. In my head I knew that Obama was riding in on an indestructible storm surge and nothing could stop the will of the American people. But the last two presidential elections jaded me and caused me to wallow about in a swirl of conspiracy and malfeasance. As I watched the results start to come in I began to move further and further away from that shame and towards the reality of a new hope, a new direction, and a new promise for this nation. When Pennsylvania went for Barack, I smiled. When Ohio turned blue I knew. Florida … Virginia … and finally, finally we righted this ship. When Obama took to the stage in Chicago, before a quarter million citizens gathered there to commemorate this monumental and life-altering event, I knew that we had delivered on the promise that was made more than two hundred years ago, by the brave men and women who founded and built this nation on the very promise that was rediscovered across the country on the fourth of November, 2008. Faith Restored!
the year 2008 behind and look anew to 2009. The job market, the economy, the war(s), the housing slump, the stock market woes, the banking and insurance disasters and subsequent the bailouts, the final year of the nation’s most horrific presidential administration, the assault on gays and lesbians, hurricanes Ike and Gustav, and the escalating corruption in American politics, the reasons to bid adieu are many! But before we so quickly stick the proverbial fork into ’08 and get on with the promise of ’09, let us recall that the past year also will be remembered for some pretty spectacular, and, in some cases, life-altering experiences:
