Election excitement

Full disclosure: I have a minor in Political Science and did my college internship with the State of Indiana, so I am a bit of a political junkie. At least, more so than most people. Even though I find it harder to keep up with the big campaign stories as my life gets fuller and fuller of other things (work, school, husband, kid, Heroes, etc.), election night has always been a special night for me - and the upcoming election feels absolutely, once-in-a-lifetime historic.

I am planning on eating a lot of snacks, and not going to bed until I find out who the President-elect is. I understand this means I might not actually go to bed...and I also understand I might just have to give up and crash at some point. But I'm going to try! While the presidential election is obviously the big story for all of us, it's pretty much the only story here - Barack Obama is from Illinois, of course, and also the races for the other offices affecting our district are pretty uninteresting (I think both our state representative and Congressman will be re-elected fairly easily).

I'm planning to go vote at 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The polls open at 6, so theoretically I could go earlier, but I don't think it's actually possible. Brock said he thought if I showed up to vote in my polka-dot pajamas, they might question my mental capacity to cast a ballot. *chuckle* So I'm going as early as I can and hoping for the best. I do think there will be lines (hooray - that means more people will be voting!), but hopefully not that long that early in the morning. Also, we vote at a school, and normally if I try to go before work, I get there during drop-off time and have to park a block away because you can't actually get anywhere near the door to the school...and the jam-up of cars is awful because a bunch of stressed-out moms are trying to get their kids to school and themselves to work.

Normally I would say, "I don't care who you vote for - just vote." But this time I don't really believe that. I feel like the outcome of this election is utterly essential for the righting of our country (and I don't mean "moving right"), and I am horribly nervous that too many people will vote the way I don't want them to vote. (If you read this blog at all, ever, you know I am totally voting for Obama.)

The thing that has disappointed me so much about this campaign is that, prior to it, I was something of a fan of John McCain. I thought he was a pretty cool guy, with an independent streak that seemed to take him in the right direction (campaign finance reform, anti-torture, etc.). He's a war hero, for pete's sake, so I thought he knew what he was talking about when it came to national defense. Also, he's funny, and in his several appearances on The Daily Show I always thought he came off smart, with a clever sense of humor. Four years ago, when I was so impressed with Barack Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention, Brock actually said to me, "What if he's running against McCain in 4 years? Who will you vote for?" And I said, first, "It'll never happen," and then, "I really don't know." So I was actually really looking forward to the showdown between him and Obama, as I thought it would be full of really stimulating discussions that would make us all better-informed and provide lots of food for thought.

So the thing I hate is that I feel like John McCain, who I used to think was a cool guy that I might have even considered voting for, totally sold out. First, he hired a bunch of the same doofuses who did such a hack job on him in the 2000 election (which, by the way, was horrible, and those people should be ashamed of themselves). Then, he started moving right on all kinds of stuff he'd previously had a different opinion about (stem-cell research, for example). Then, he picked a completely unqualified running mate, and in my opinion, he did it only because she's a woman and he wanted to attract those disgruntled Hillary voters - which is completely the wrong kind of affirmative action.

(Sidebar: if he was dead-set on picking a woman, I can't believe there weren't any better-qualified options than Sarah Palin. I mean, really. It's a bit insulting to me as a woman that this is the best we could do. What about Elizabeth Dole? She seems to have her act together, even though apparently her latest campaign ads for Senate are way out of line.)

I just feel like, at some point, John McCain just decided that darn it, he really wanted to win, and he would do whatever it took to win, and screw everything else (like principles). That really disappoints me, because one of the things I've always liked about him is that I felt like he said what he really thought about things. I don't think he's been doing that in this campaign - which makes me nervous, because I think one of two things could happen IF he wins. One is that he'll get into office and turn into the old John McCain, which would make me feel somewhat better (though still completely depressed), but would probably cheese off all the right-wingers who voted for him. The other is that he'll keep taking advice and guidance from these dorks who are running his mess of a campaign, and we'll be even worse off than we already are. Neither of those is very good - one says he's completely unpredictable and the other says he's under the influence of bad advisors.

That's why I'm not voting for him. I know that if Barack Obama wins, he won't be able to do all the stuff he says he's going to do (no President can ever do all the stuff he says he's going to do while he's campaigning, but he has to say it...I mean, who would vote for a guy who said, "You know, I'd love to solve the health care crisis in this country, but frankly, folks, I don't think it can be done in four years"?). He'll probably disappoint me somehow. But I truly believe that, overall, he's a steadier presence in a time that calls for a steady presence, and that he's still idealistic enough to believe things can be better and he can help make them that way.

So really, go vote. If there's a line, wait through it. And think really, really hard about whom you're supporting, because in this election, more than any other in my lifetime at least, it really, really matters.