Looking Back at November 4

Well, this fortnightly column thing turns out to be harder than it looks. I have nothing but respect for the columnists who put out something weekly, or more often than that. So, without further ado, here's my look back at November 4, which I actually wrote shortly thereafter, but then forgot to post. I guess that means it's a look further back at November 4.

Two men stood before the People of the United States of America and, for nearly the last two years, issued nothing but glowing generalizations about the state and future of our nation. On Tuesday, November 4, 2008, in the midst of our economy taking the biggest dump since the Great Depression, an historic thing happened when the Populated States of America decided that a black man was the lesser of two evils. I used to frequent Yahoo Answers, writing responses to questions on a pretty wide array of topics including physics, religion, dieting, math, geology, politics and relationship advice (a big laugh for those who know me). About a year ago, I answered a question about whether or not Barack Obama had a snowball's chance in Hell of being elected president. I answered "No. He's black. America won't elect a black man. Period. Ask again in 50 years. Maybe America will have grown up by then." Needless to say, as the election drew near, I defrosted and brined my hat, and got the oven warmed up. The United States of America, which includes the South, will have a black president. I'm going to be honest with you. I'm very surprised, and nearly astonished. I didn't think we had it in us.

Barack Obama may be sorry he took the job come January 20. The economy's fucked. We're at war in two places. The world hates us. George W. Bush dug a pretty deep hole for us. John McCain lost the election because of Bush. He toed the republican line. He was not a maverick. He failed to distance himself from Bush. Interestingly, John McCain's thirty-one percent collection of electoral votes is pretty close to Bush's twenty-nine percent approval rating. So Barack Obama takes the reins, and the big question is, can he drive drive the wagon? Can he put out the fire? Can he fix the damage? My guess is the President-elect will not have gained much on Bush in approval rating when 2012 rolls around. I think we're asking too much. I hope I'm surprised.

New topic: What did not surprise me, but does appall me, is the passage of Proposition 8. So, about half of California voters don't like same sex marriage. But, instead of minding their own damn business and simply not marrying people of the same sex, they decided to make a government case out of it, so they could make that decision for others as well. Proposition 8 passed with 52.5 percent of the vote, which means nearly half of the voters disagreed. It strikes me as very strange that wholesale changes can be made to the State Constitution when really, only half of voters are in favor of it. 47.5 percent is a lot of unhappy people.

This is a case of a slim majority deciding on the rights of a minority group, for such reasons as, “Marriage is between a man and a woman. Period.” Pretty compelling argument, I must say. People keep pointing out that the same people who elected our first black president also voted against the rights of fellow Americans. How could they do that?! I'll tell you how. They didn't vote for our first black president because he's black. They voted for him because he's not Bush, and he's not associated with him. They voted for a change, whom happens to be black. But the Bible says homosexuality is an abomination, so they had to vote to restrict the rights of homosexuals. It was God's will. Don't for a minute think we're getting progressive. We're not. We're just fed up with the bullshit.