History was made! Barack Obama was elected President of the United States!  I am very optimistic that this will lead to a brighter future in the long run.

I was laid off. The economic downturn and so on led to yet another round of cutbacks at my old company.  Though it stinks to experience this I am comforted by the knowledge that it wasn’t about me or my performance: just another blind, pointless swing of the layoff axe.

The economy continued to tank. No surprise there.

I’m working on weight loss (again). We’ll see how that goes.

Beginnings: Tomorrow we elect a new president of these United States.  I think that man will be Barack Obama.  On August 28, 1963 my namesake Martin Luther King dreamt of a world where his children and indeed all people, “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character”.  Just over 45 years later we are on the verge of electing a man of color to the highest office in the land.  Here’s the links (video or text) to his historic and prophetic speech.

Somewhere, Dr. King is smiling… in fact, I think he’s standing shoulder to shoulder with Madelyn Payne Dunham (Barack’s recently-departed grandmother) waiting to see the election results come in.  I sincerely hope that his election will help start healing the wounds that divide this country both ideologically and racially, and will open an entirely new (and better) chapter in our great history.

In the 1967 Loving v. Virginia case the courts struck down the various state laws that made interracial marriage illegal.  In 1996 the DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act) was passed, one of many efforts in Congress to “protect” marriage.  Importantly, if you are gay and get married in a state that allows it, no other state need recognize that marriage.  Sound familiar?

I support the right of straight and gay couples to marry with all the rights and responsibilities that entails, and I believe that that right should be nation-wide, not state-by-state. Separate but equal didn’t work when it came to civil rights for minorities and it won’t work now.  Allowing the tyranny of the majority to parcel out rights to minorities this way is not helpful.  Unfortunately neither candidate is supportive of gay marriage, and I particularly call out Obama on this, who should know better than anyone that separate but equal is wrongheaded; I can only hope that he’s saying what’s politically expedient rather than what’s in his heart (given that he’d turn off some voters if he declared his support of it).

That said, I predict the following: a clear Obama victory, around 60% of the popular vote to McCain’s 35%, a clear Electoral College victory (pased on the current polls I’d say by a 2:1 margin) and for Congress, 59-61 dem senators when all the votes are counted.

I wonder how far off I’ll be?

I sincerely hope that this battle royale to decide which precedent they’re going to set doesn’t overshadow the fact that another 4+ years of same-old, same-old isn’t in anyone’s best interests. And yes, I think it’s dragging out to a large extent because of that question of precedent: will this election cross a racial divide or a gender gap? Either candidate would make history from the outset because of their race or gender and nobody in the party leadership seems to want to wade into that. If Dean stated a preference he’d be in some way alienating the other candidate and effectively picking sides in something that has become more than a contest between two qualified individuals.

Unless Condoleezza Rice throws her hat in the ring for President (though rumor has it she might end up in the Veep spot) we’re not going to get both historic attributes in one person this time around so it’s time to choose a candidate based on who’s got the popular vote and who’s most likely to win the general election! Better to make history as the first <insert attributes here> president than just a footnote as “the first <insert attributes here> who won the primary but lost the general election.” Because we really don’t need 4 more years of this.

And along comes Obama, and suddenly you see someone who can bring people together, who can speak to people of all classes, races and creeds, not with the voice of self-righteousness but with thought and consideration.  I’ve started reading his book, The Audacity of Hope, and already I’m impressed.  He doesn’t have all the answers and he admits as much (Bush – from day one – has shown unwavering hubris in this regard).  Is he perfect?  Nope.  But he certainly comes across as authentic.

I wrote a while back about the 2008 Election season, which was just heating up.  I still think Obama hasn’t got all the foreign policy experience one might want, but unlike Dubya I think he’d be a quick learner, listening instead of just reacting, considering rather than jumping to unwavering conclusions.

Hillary?  I was a big fan of Bill Clinton… but in retrospect I’m not as big a fan as I was (primarily because of some of his foreign policy decisions, and good ol’ NAFTA).  The nation is overdue for a woman as President, but she’s schooled in the art of old-time politicking, as evidenced by her underhanded attacks on the other candidates (mainly Obama now).  The only change she’d bring is a change to the political arena is in gender… it’d be the same stale old Democratic politics other than that.

As for McCain, he is more than happy to keep us in Iraq indefinitely, and his stand on torture is vexing.  Sure, he’s not playing well with the extreme right-wingers but he’s still paying lip-service to the same destructive policies.  And he’s old… with age comes wisdom but in his case it just makes him less flexible and more risky a choice.

I suggested that John Edwards was the best person for the job.  I still think he had the best plan for health care and in general always seemed to be a man of principles.  I could still see him making a difference now – as Obama’s Vice Presidential running mate.

I do worry about one thing with Obama: he’ll be a lightning-rod of sorts – just by virtue of his race – to the lunatic right-wing fringe.  I sincerely hope that even they lend him an ear and hear what he has to say.  I look at Obama and the first thing I see, before I think of race or anything else, is our next President.  I find that to be a small wonder in itself, and a testament to his rising above politics-as-usual.

On a political note, I’d be quite pleased to see John Edwards elected as the next president. His stance on the uninsured resonates with me, and he seems like a good and authentic person (unlike our current King George). As for the others:

• Al Gore isn’t running yet, but if he ends up running I’ll have a tough time choosing between him and Edwards… the current leadership is up to the tops of their metaphorical waders in bubblin’ crude and have done nothing but waste time denying that billions of tons of CO2 by us tiny little humans can have any effect on such a big planet (founded on a religious belief in “dispensationalism”, that is, no matter what we do it doesn’t matter because God’ll fix it anyway). It’s time for a radical revision of our environmental policy.
• Barak Obama seems to be a good person as well but he’s rather inexperienced at a time when we really need someone more seasoned (some time as Veep would hone his foreign policy experience and generally increase his breadth and depth in preparation for a future term or two as president). He is quite popular though, so we’ll see.
• Hillary Clinton: she just has not come across as strong or decisive on the big issues (particularly Iraq and even her old favorite, universal health care), and though we’re way overdue for a woman president, that doesn’t mean she’s the right choice. If she was elected I see a whole lot of nothing getting done, except perhaps more general discord.

For those of you who are leaning towards Republican candidates… the funny thing for me is how un-Republican the Republican party has become. About 10 years ago I noted that the “party of smaller government” was spending an awful lot of time promoting and investing in more government. Even old guard Republicans have noticed the irony. I recommend American Theocracy by Kevin Phillips, which examines this phenomenon. Look at how much taxpayer time and money Republicans have spent on legislating their version of sexual morality, while holding out against any sort of universal health care that encourages people to get proper care. Buy a sex toy in Texas and your immorality is punishable by law; die from an inability to afford quality medical care and it’s just too bad. That’s just twisted.

Letting Americans die of preventable diseases for lack of proper healthcare coverage is pretty cold (dying because a disease is not caught until it’s too late due to a lack of preventive care, primarily due to being economically disadvantaged). Letting people die of AIDS in poor nations for a lack of (artificially) costly medicine is reprehensible… as if letting people die is preferable to giving away medicine at cost to those who can in no way afford it’s market price. That’s moral? Nope… for those who rail against Darwin, that’s Social Darwinism at its best. It’s all about the money and control (the only way morality enters in such an equation is in judging such people unworthy of the government’s help). It’s wrong, wrong, wrong.

Note: this isn’t to say the Democrats have done much better at getting things done over the years either… but at least some of the present candidates seem to intend to make progress on the big issues in a way that goes beyond campaign fluff. I sincerely hope they do, and that this election means we don’t have any more of this foolish war, religious fundamentalism driving public policy or the general divisiveness we have today.

Are Republicans THAT different from Democrats? Not really… it’s mainly on issues of “morality” as it pertains to individuals that any difference is readily apparent across the respective parties. Edwards, Obama and (potential candidate) Gore seems to stand out from that crowd… I hope whichever of them wins proves my hunch right.

As a disclaimer, I’m not a dyed-in-the-wool liberal and I’m only conservative on a few issues (I’m centrist for the most part, left-leaning). This post is not paid for or otherwise endorsed by any of the candidates, parties or others, period. I’m just speaking my mind (warning: mind subject to change without notice…)