Considering that it was a week ago, I realize that I'm a
little late to the victory party, but here goes: November 6, 2012
may very well be remembered as the day that America finally became a
progressive nation.
For real, this time.
Not only did we re-elect President Obama, our first black POTUS, but progressive candidates made gains in the house and senate and on the state level. Most interestingly, marriage equality and pot legalization passed in several states -- unusual acts of compassion and common sense that have been mostly lacking in our history. This election came down to "We're all in this together" vs. "You're on your own" -- and "together" won.
For the last four years, the Republican party and reactionary forces in this country did everything they could to destroy President Obama and impose their hard-right, mean-spirited agenda on us. They made it very clear that their only goal was not doing anything to help improve the country but to deny Obama a second term. They failed.
They failed spectacularly. Oh man, oh man, did they fail!
They spent literally billions of dollars to beat Obama and his supporters -- and instead Obama and his supporters beat them (and with a lot less money too).
These people could have done a lot more good if they had donated that money to charity or spent it to educate, house and clothe poor people. Instead, they just spent it on TV ads.
Hell, they should have just lit it on fire! Metaphorically, that's exactly what they did.
Now Obama is not a perfect president (no president is) but look at his record: he pulled American out of its worst recession since the Great Depression, saved the auto industry, helped millions more people get health care, got us out of two badly run wars, and killed the world's worst terrorist. Pretty good record. Mitt Romney and his Republican allies, instead, wanted to take us back to the bad old days of President George W. Bush, and America -- correctly, smartly -- said no to that.
Romney will be fine, however. He has hundreds of millions of dollars, a pretty wife, 5 sons, and 18 grandchildren to console him. Besides, he'll be getting his own planet someday so missing out on the presidency isn't that bad.
As for the rest of the Republicans, they're doing some "soul searching" which would make sense only if they had souls. If they had souls, maybe they wouldn't be so nasty ("legitimate rapes" etc.) and would have won. I shed no tears nor have any sympathy for them. They're feeling pain right now and they richly deserve it.
Second terms have been historically problematic, and I'm sure Obama will have his troubles over the next four years. But however rough it gets, just remember what we were spared.
Here in NYC, meanwhile, I feel that this election shows that NYC and the rest of America are developing more of a kinship. This was a victory for urban America as much as anything else. Speaking for New Yorkers (if I may), I think we're just happy to no longer be foreigners in our own country. More and more, as this election showed, the country is more like NYC and less like Texas.
Not only did we re-elect President Obama, our first black POTUS, but progressive candidates made gains in the house and senate and on the state level. Most interestingly, marriage equality and pot legalization passed in several states -- unusual acts of compassion and common sense that have been mostly lacking in our history. This election came down to "We're all in this together" vs. "You're on your own" -- and "together" won.
For the last four years, the Republican party and reactionary forces in this country did everything they could to destroy President Obama and impose their hard-right, mean-spirited agenda on us. They made it very clear that their only goal was not doing anything to help improve the country but to deny Obama a second term. They failed.
They failed spectacularly. Oh man, oh man, did they fail!
They spent literally billions of dollars to beat Obama and his supporters -- and instead Obama and his supporters beat them (and with a lot less money too).
These people could have done a lot more good if they had donated that money to charity or spent it to educate, house and clothe poor people. Instead, they just spent it on TV ads.
Hell, they should have just lit it on fire! Metaphorically, that's exactly what they did.
Now Obama is not a perfect president (no president is) but look at his record: he pulled American out of its worst recession since the Great Depression, saved the auto industry, helped millions more people get health care, got us out of two badly run wars, and killed the world's worst terrorist. Pretty good record. Mitt Romney and his Republican allies, instead, wanted to take us back to the bad old days of President George W. Bush, and America -- correctly, smartly -- said no to that.
Romney will be fine, however. He has hundreds of millions of dollars, a pretty wife, 5 sons, and 18 grandchildren to console him. Besides, he'll be getting his own planet someday so missing out on the presidency isn't that bad.
As for the rest of the Republicans, they're doing some "soul searching" which would make sense only if they had souls. If they had souls, maybe they wouldn't be so nasty ("legitimate rapes" etc.) and would have won. I shed no tears nor have any sympathy for them. They're feeling pain right now and they richly deserve it.
Second terms have been historically problematic, and I'm sure Obama will have his troubles over the next four years. But however rough it gets, just remember what we were spared.
Here in NYC, meanwhile, I feel that this election shows that NYC and the rest of America are developing more of a kinship. This was a victory for urban America as much as anything else. Speaking for New Yorkers (if I may), I think we're just happy to no longer be foreigners in our own country. More and more, as this election showed, the country is more like NYC and less like Texas.
Our new slogan should be, "NYC -- We are America!"
Love it or leave it.
Love it or leave it.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please keep it civil, intelligent, and expletive-free. Otherwise, opine away.