What I loved the best about this morning:

• Seeing the Obama kids up there on the platform with the rest of their family. Just lovely.
• Joe Biden being his goofy self. Like him or hate him, he’s a real person.
• Yo-Yo Ma.
• Obama mentioned non-believers! And gave a shout out to science! It’s sad, but it made me cry to hear both of those said out loud. And not as a means of attack, but as a means of inclusion and welcome.
• Just getting to see the Rev. Joseph Lowery. A figure from my US History book come to eloquent life.

It also give me great pleasure to add the official White House blog to ye olde blogroll over there. The White House home page has been changed over already and looks beautiful. Now to go work on something that I’ve been putting off until today – I might post it on Flickr when it’s finished.

From now on, I can actually write the word President without quotation marks, without any sort of snark whatsoever. It feels really good.

Last night, the US elected Senator Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. Despite what feels like a wicked cold kicking my arse, I stayed up to hear both his acceptance speech and McCain’s concession speech. Rather than stooping to certain people’s levels, let me just say the contrast couldn’t have been starker. It had nothing to do with who won and/or who lost. It absolutely reflected what sort of person each man has shown himself to be. One was graceful, elegant, dignified and truly (IMO) tried to reach across every barrier in our country. The other was the single most passive-aggressive speech I’ve ever personally witnessed. I’ll let you decide which is which.

And here in Colorado, the news was…mixed. US Congressional District CO-02 now has the first openly gay Representative in our state’s history. Jared Polis ran a clean campaign from beginning to end. Most impressively, neither side mentioned Polis’ sexual orientation; the attack ads focused on 1) the fact that he’s a successful businessman who is a millionaire and 2) his support for charter-public school partnerships. Best of all, during his acceptance speech he introduced his partner by name and brought him up on stage. I cried like a baby.

There were a number of ballot initiatives and amendments this year; we had the longest ballot in the US, with 18 different issues on which to vote. The one I’ve been following the closest, Amendment 48 (the one that would have defined a zygote as a fully functional human being in a court of law), went down in an incredibly spectacular manner. Not just in flames, but with a rocket burying it in the damn ground. The other ones I’ve been watching, sad to say, were also defeated; Amendment 58, which would have ended state subsidies to Big Oil/Gas companies for the privilege of taking Colorado oil from our lands, and Amendment 51, which would have provided money for services for the developmentally disabled.

I also hear that in CA, Proposition 8 passed. Just shows how far we have to go in this country. This won’t be the end of the marriage debate, nor should it be.

We all have a lot of work to do in the years ahead. The Worst President Ever has left our country in a gigantic fscking hole. The hole is most likely bigger than any one person can fill. But, at least we have a start. A President-elect with a functional cerebral cortex, a wee glimmer of hope.

And for those of us who check off “other” when they fill in their race, we can tell our children that yes, they too can be President someday.

UPDATE: I cannot believe I didn’t mention this before. D’oh! Our newest US Senator from Colorado is…Mark Udall. Oh, Senator Udall has such a nice ring to it. His acceptance speech last night was pretty great as well – it was incredible to see how excited and happy his family was, especially his wife. Very cool.

About a week or so ago, I went to our local campaign office, School Girl in tow, to volunteer on the phones. I was talked into it by another volunteer who called us. While I was on the phones, School Girl made this campaign poster. We’re all pretty proud of it.

This is her first election where she’s been aware of what’s happening. We’ve explained the electoral process to the best of our abilities, leaving out the more horrific bits (Hello, 2000! We still remember you…). They’ve also, apparently, been talking about the election at school. She was supposed to wear red, white and blue to school this morning, but they aren’t the same as pink so we let it go. She is really, really excited. In fact, she was excited enough to let Mum watch the morning news instead of cartoons during breakfast.

Yesterday, I did some canvassing. Inadvertently – just a matter of being at the wrong place at the wrong time. I went with someone else who lived in our area. We both were stunned at the number of Obama supporters; neither one of us expected it, but were more than pleasantly surprised. I even met a fellow PTO member. Even though I wound up hiking bloody steep hills for more than 2 hours, it was a pretty good morning.

And today…I’m sick, so I took off from work, took School Girl to class, and am heading for bed any minute now. I haven’t decided whether or not to watch TV. It might make me feel worse.

If you haven’t voted yet, don’t forget. Don’t put it off, either – those lines aren’t getting any shorter, yo. Make sure, if there are any referendums/amendments/whatever in your state, that you vote on those as well. Let’s help defeat Proposition 8 in CA and Amendment 48 in CO. Good luck to everybody, no matter who you vote for today.

“It is with great sadness that we announce that our grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died peacefully after a battle with cancer. She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility. She was the person who encouraged and allowed us to take chances. She was proud of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and left this world with the knowledge that her impact on all of us was meaningful and enduring. Our debt to her is beyond measure.

“Our family wants to thank all of those who sent flowers, cards, well-wishes, and prayers during this difficult time. It brought our grandmother and us great comfort. Our grandmother was a private woman, and we will respect her wish for a small private ceremony to be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, we ask that you make a donation to any worthy organization in search of a cure for cancer.”

We here at Chez Evil know a thing or two about grandmothers who raise their grandsons – not necessarily under similar circumstances. Our hearts go out to the Obama family.

Next Tuesday we will elect the next President of the United States. The result will have great consequences for the nation.

This election offers a choice is between two men with dramatically different visions of the future. We have strong feelings about this choice. But we feel even more strongly that all Americans, regardless of political preference, have a stake in the outcome and should vote in this critical election.

This is likely to be a close election. Your vote matters. Please use it and make a difference.

Sincerely,
Trent Reznor

From Nine Inch Nails‘ website and mailing list.

Well, you heard the man. If you haven’t voted yet, prepare to go tomorrow. Good luck to all of us, no matter what our politics.