One Day at a Time

I'm thrilled beyond my greatest hope at the result of the presidential election. I spent the days leading up to Tuesday angry at all of the downright ignorant quotations I saw from people who genuinely believe that Obama is Muslim/terrorist/out to change everything we know and love/pick your favorite stupid belief. I was afraid that ignorance and racism would win out over rational thought. While I don't think McCain would have been quite the embarrassment that Shrub has been, I'm overjoyed that I will now actually be able to listen to soundbites of the president speaking without cringing. Obama has an incredibly difficult road ahead of him, and I do not envy him or Michelle one little bit. But at least we have the chance to move in the right direction now.

But...and with me, there's almost always a "but"...Minnesota disappointed me in a big way. District 6 sent Michele Bachmann back to congress, even after her "drill here, drill now" tour and her anti-American shenanigans. Unfortunately, this proves that she can do anything and still be unbeatable.

And, apparently, the larger "we" of Minnesotans sent Norm Coleman back instead of Al Franken. Many people were turned off by Franken's apparent lack of political experience and his background as a humorist. What kind of boggles my mind is that, in a state that swung overwhelmingly for Obama, apparently "we" weren't turned off by Coleman's "Shrub-boy" voting record. Heaven forbid you are a smart comic, cause that means you probably aren't ready for congress; but if you had a record of voting with someone we rejected, that makes you suitable. Granted, the race was extremely close, close enough that Coleman needs to step back and realize that he was barely re-elected. I also don't feel like the independent votes stole the election from the dems the way they have in the past...it really could have gone either way.

So, thank goodness for Obama, but MN has a lot of work to do in the state. (Congressional votes weren't all bad--we also re-elected Keith Ellison, the first Muslim in congress--maybe he'll try running for president some day?)