Still basking in the afterglow of the Obama election. Still happier than I’ve been in a long time about the state of the U.S., even with the economic bad news and tough times ahead.

I felt this way in 1992 after Clinton got elected. However, I lived in Provo, Utah, and at my day job, one of my co-workers was an avid Rush Limbaugh fan, listening every day. Somewhere in mid-1993, I finally asked her to wear headphones because I couldn’t take it any more. I won’t be subjecting myself to the partisan comedians this time around.

The thing that strikes me about most of the partisan shows is that there isn’t a true dialogue. That goes for Olbermann and Maddow as much as it does for Hannity and Limbaugh and Beck and Savage and O’Reilly. Sitting around getting angry isn’t a dialogue. It’s an emotional crack hit.

This cycle, I had hoped to have more people than the handful who disagree with my views in the comments. To the few of you who don’t agree but still chose to participate, I thank you. We’ve got a long way to go to until we can have true, civil yet dissenting political discourse in the United States. The partisan shows aren’t going to help.

* * *

It’s interesting to see what kind of garbage is still being regurgitated by the “we don’t have to be introspective ever” GOP. E.g.,
1) “conservatives have to take back the party“;

2) GOP appears to eat its own (after introducing her to the national stage, they are now throwing Palin under the bus):

I don’t feel sorry for them or her. The very people who selected, introduced and cheered Palin are now saying that it’s her fault McCain lost the election. Right. Thank GOD for BIll O’Reilly and his no spin zone. Wait.

At some point, the hypocrisy will be replaced with pragmatism, right?

* * *

Finally, The one heartening map I’ve seen is this one from the New York Times that shows how counties shifted more Democratic this cycle:

click image above to view a larger version

If I were a GOP strategist, I’d be taking a hard look at this map and an even harder look at how to move forward. I don’t think being more extremist and more fundamentalist is going to do it, just as it won’t play if the Obama administration takes it too far the other way. Time will tell. o

Taken on the same, last-best-day-ever-walk as the others this week. I wonder where they went now that it’s 30° colder and snow is not really melting. o

I’m trying not to think about it too hard, but it’s highly unlikely that any of the remaining days of 2008 will be as warm and beautiful as this one was. o

I am so proud right now!

DirecTV channel 352. Eight channels at once! o

No matter what. Vote. o

Taken on what I believe will be the last 70°F + day of 2008. I wished I’d had the lensbaby, but with the dogs, it’s more difficult to operate the canines and the camera unless the camera is on mostly automatic mode.

If you are a registered voter, make sure you make and take the time to vote! o

Feels really good.

Note the provisional ballot status for voting early. Is this normal? o

They aren’t that scary. But Happy Halloween all the same! Eat candy! Barf!

It should be noted that the two dogs at our house sat patiently for me while I took this shot yesterday. It was well into the 70s here. That would be lower to mid 20s for you Celcius lovers out there.

I think our lovely autumn is coming to a close soon. o

I’ve received a lot of email asking me to stop linking to those politicians I disagree with and to write more about the politicians with which I agree.

I linked to an endorsement by The New Yorker and quoted a couple of paragraphs. That pretty much is exactly how I feel.

Mr. Obama knows that he is a relative newcomer. His choice of Vice President proves that he wanted to balance the ticket with somebody who has strengths in areas where Senator Obama may be less strong. I’m not sure that Obama thought he’d get the nomination when he started his campaign. This election has been running for a couple of years now and the primary season on the Democratic side was brutal. Battles like that put on display how a candidate will respond when in office.

Following the conventions, the craziest stuff has been said about Obama. I’ve never seen so many different and intensely personal attacks in one cycle. How Obama has responded has been, for lack of a better term, presidential.

There are several memes coming from conservatives: Terrorist! Marxist! Socialist! Deficit Spender! These are all irresponsible and if you compare the kinds of things the Obama campaign has gotten wrong versus right on a site like factcheck.org, he has run a much cleaner, better organized campaign than his opponents. He hasn’t resorted to name-calling or personal attacks.

Is Obama or the party perfect? No. No candidate is ever perfect. There is no such thing. But I can look past the imperfections much more easily this cycle. I like that Obama taught constitutional law. Especially given the dangerous ground the Bush/Cheney administration has trod.

I’m not going to lie. My main reason for voting Obama/Biden is that I feel like they’ve got what it takes to put aside the name calling and childish part of politics and really move this country forward. My inner ideologist loves the fact that Obama speaks in a calm, educated way and dares to use words like “hope”. We could use some hope about now. o