Fast check-in…
I live and work in Kingston, a city of 23,000 in the hills north of the big city. Kingston is the county seat, so all the campaigns have their offices here. The Republicans are right downstairs from my studio; there is nothing much going on. I just spent an hour over at Democratic headquarters around the corner by the cigar shop, and they’re still working the phones and driving people to the polls, which close in more than two hours.
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The mood is definitely not elated, but it’s calm and upbeat. There is not that feeling of “we’re about to lose.” I think that most Democrats and those supporting Obama are cautious and not feeling too confident. In the often mythical war between Dems and Pubs, Dems have taken a beating the past decade; most of this involves not Republicanism but rather church-based, allegedly Christian, not terribly charitable, neoconservatism.
Apparently voter turnout was extremely strong across the country — I keep reading record numbers — and that’s for a reason: beneath the hope and optimism lurks a sense of fear and anger. And there is some concern. Despite the attack ads, Obama is not exactly a leftist or a liberal or a radical. He is a straight-on moderate; he is a product of a political process, though I feel he’s kept some of his values intact. I think it’s crucial that we not confuse him with a progressive, though he is closer to it than anything we’ve seen in a long time.
I’m going to keep repeating this: whoever takes office, the work begins now. I suggest you commit to it now. There is a very, very big mess to clean up; nearly a decade of Bush, more than half a century of post-World War II growth (with its economic ‘other side of the tracks’ and an environmental situation) that seems to have reached a maximum limit.
We are, as I’ve written many times, entering a phase of prolonged restructuring…rethinking…enforced changes…the kinds of changes we don’t like to make. We invest a lot of shadow material in Saturn, Pluto and Capricorn: all of our authority issues; many of our security issues; many of our family issues. And for the foreseeable future, it is Saturn, Pluto and Capricorn (with a big dose of Uranus) that are in the picture.
Uranus brings in the element of fun: of liberation, of throwing off the mental shackles and expressing ourselves. Remember that old line from Emma Goldman, about how if she can’t dance, it’s not her revolution. This is not quite a revolution yet, but you can have fun even when you’re cleaning up after a party
Rockin’ on,
–efc
Radicate the Right!
Regulate Capitalism!
Stop the Torture and stop the Fundies!
The cry of the new era of YES WE CAN!
mystes:
Right On! ‘Radicatin’.
Makin’ Love,
aword
‘a word’… maybe we can think of the process as ‘more, better, sweeter’ play… instead of adult drudgery. I remember when Clinton was elected, most of us were focused on trying to accomodate and compromise with our Republican brethren. Feck that. We need to accomodate and compromise with the anarcho-socialists among us. Use the deeply progressive roots in this country to school the centrist element.
The fundies had it for 20 years. Now its our turn. Slogan: Radicate the Right.
Kissies a tous
I think I’m moving to quickly:
RE: that is “more like a party-pooper” — when it’s nose to the grindstone and we’re tired and wanna go out to play and he’s sticking to the plan and moving us forward and we’re in the back seat whinning “when are we gonna get there”?!
THEN is when we have to remember WHY we elected him.
Exciting to watch the polls (esp. PA) etc. Much much work ahead. Love Eric’s idea that even cleaning up after the party can be fun. Would be more fun had I been at the “party” — but that’s not the point, eh?
Obama has shown us that he knows how to make a plan, hire talented people to help him implement it and carry it out (whether or not he wins!).
We are going to have to stick with him through the times ahead when he seems more like the party-pooper than the re-organization-of-our-country leader.
There’s a saying in theatre; that when you learn all the lines and the blocking, this is when the creative process begins. The same is true for music; when you learn all the chords and all the lyrics, that’s when the real work begins.
So true, this is the begining of the real work. I think we will have to be warriors. Like Tuck & Pattie said, “Love Warriors”
I re-iterate a suggestion in an earlier blog: Watch ZEITGEIST: ADDENDUM
Pro-longed Re-structuring, re-thinking, enforced changes!
Someone has just mentioned on the BBC coverage that it will be the first time since the 1950’s that there will be neither a DoleoraBush in federal office.
Can I put on my prophet hat now and call Oklahoma for McCain, too?
McCain could have pedaled a tricycle through Kentucky and still brought that state home to the ‘pubs. Still…must feel good to them. The McCain, people.
McCain barnstormed Kentucky!!
Correction from kos on VA. Warner has won. Obama too close to call.
Kos is calling Virginia for Obama. Warner has won easily in his bid for Senate. If Obama takes Virginia, it looks like a very good night.