A black man became President yesterday, in case ya didn’t know.
I watched the coverage between episodes of South Park and Arrested Development with my friends Derek and Jon. We were sitting at the TV when the announcement was made. We watched McCain give his concession speech. We watched as Obama walked up to his podium with his family, and then proceeded to announce his historical triumph.
First, I was expecting Obama to give a great speech. I was not surprised by his performance. He is a great speaker and has portrayed himself in a very positive social light, to me one of the biggest contributing factors in this election outcome. If you haven’t faced the fact that issues are irrelevant to getting elected into the most important office in America you are so fucking stupid you can’t connect two dots with a straight line if someone put a piece of paper in front of you with two dots on it, and then put a pen in your hand and tried to trace the line for you.
This is not a slight against Obama. He didn’t create this political environment but he does understand it. With that understanding he was able to maneuver his way into office by winning the election. And I applaud his success, for he entered an environment, analyzed it, and then manipulated the factors of that environment to create a desired outcome. He worked hard and succeeded.
Now what really caught me off guard was the concession speech by McCain. I was not expecting to hear such eloquent remarks by a man just informed that he had lost the presidency. This man walked up to his podium and told us a story about a country that needs to come together to overcome the issues facing it. He pledged himself to work with President elect Obama despite their differences. He did an excellent job addressing the issue of race, tackling it head on and without fear instead of making it awkward. He even offered his condolences to Obama’s grandmother, which I found particularly nice of him. And then he blew me away by telling this nation that his campaign was going to be the highest achievement of his life. Is this particularly profound given he won’t be running again? No. But to willingly tell an entire nation that is pretty amazing in my book. If you don’t think so I would ask you to go find ten people you don’t know and tell them honestly what your dream in life is. Chances are you are so fucked up you can’t bear to face the inevitable human desire to tear apart something dear to another – a display I’m sure those ten people will perform for you.
All in all, I am pleased with the outcome of this election. Norm Coleman is going to win. Al Franken’s public service career is trashed. Obama gave a great speech. I might have to pay higher taxes. Okay, I probably will pay higher taxes but it wont be the end of the world. McCain left in the most graceful fashion I could imagine. No more campaign ads woohooo!