An election 4 years in the making

So the election is over and we hope we can get back to business right? Well, after some gloating we did in 2012 and the shellacking we took in 2010 along with the devastation in 2004 that was a mixed blessing I wanted to look back at this Presidential campaign and just laught it up that I ever thought about three of the scariest words in the English Language: President Mitt Romney

So, let me start at 2004. I read an article that said that 2004 was a mixed blessing because people got tired of the Republeconomics and voted for a Democratic House in 2006, had Kerry won in 2004 they argued the Republicans would’ve been a stick in the mud and caused obstruction that we are so used to seeing now. That would’ve kerplunked any idea of bipartisanship and President Kerry would’ve taken the heat for it as Bill Clinton did when he ran things. The same way Obama does but now due to the volume of the obstruction and the instantaneousness of the news, we can see the truth and check facts on it as opposed to believing the news from MSNBC or Rush Limbaugh.

In 2008 I got excited about the fact that America’s President could be black. I knew nothing about him and I did support him because he was black and talked about redistribution of wealth. Call me naïve but I was solely voting for Obama because he’s black. Not in 2012 however. In 2008 I couldn’t vote but I had also forgotten where I was registered too which made me not vote. I was at home around 1am when I saw Obama at 220 and California came in giving him the much needed Electoral Votes to put him over the top to 275 he won about 60 more EVs when it was all said and done. Hope and change was a bellwether and he won the popular vote too. He’s the first since FDR to win both the Popular and Electoral Votes. So…I was happy knowing we elected this black man to lead America but I didn’t know just how big this was. He got votes from Republicans, Democrats, Independents and people who probably never would’ve crossed the aisle to support another Democrat. The Republican Party had gone so rightward and was out of touch with so many of their voters that they threw people into an existential tailspin, but putting country before party, they voted for Obama.

So here comes 2010 and we have to vote for a Governor. Now, during this time, I had situated out being gay and reconnected with a long lost friend. I got involved in the fight to legalize marriage equality and give gay and lesbian NYkers the same rights as heterosexual ones. I went to the voting booth and voted Democrat down the line and received Mark Grisanti as my Legislator, who would cast a vote to be one of the 33 to legalize marriage on June 24 2011. I got involved with looking up cases and some histories of our legislators, getting involved in Stonewall Democrats and the fight to overturn Prop 8. I was in my element. After going to Democratic HQ I found out that our Senate and House of Reps were under Republican Control. I thought: Oh no, we’re in trouble now and a downgraded credit rating and hundreds of filibusters and blocked bills later, my suspicions were right. After watching the new Congress take its seats and Boehner who looked like he was drunk all the time take a larger than life gavel, I wondered if he was compensating for something.

The news kept getting gloomier and gloomier. Scott Walker took over WI and the Legislature there, he won his recall but their iron clad grip on the Legislature was weakened which was a great thing. Voter ID laws were being passed faster than I can  react to them and abortion bills were being introduced and passed, contraception was streamlined and I was seeing RED. So as the ID laws came down, and the FL voting debacle was being waged out and all these voter rights groups coming to the aid of the voters in OH, FL, PA and WI, I began to breathe some more and think about this year’s election. We believed Obama had it in the bag, and looking at the results he did yet campaigns are turned upside down in one moment…

Or a series of them called the Denver Debate. I had a meltdown like you wouldn’t believe I thought: Obama, you better eviscerate this guy next time. Romney surged in the polls and I thought: Here it goes. I’m moving to Canada or something. I’ll be an expatriate, an American living overseas. VP debates came and I loved Biden’s performance, he was in command of the debate though Martha Radditz did the best job out of all the debate moderators, he really shredded Paul Ryan so bad I forgot Ryan did one of the toughest workouts ever filmed (the P90X workourts) Second debate night, my Internet wasn’t working so I got a call from my Pops and he had the phone up to the debate and said Obama was chewing ass. I loved the shady deal part and I couldn’t contain my amazement as I heard Romney wince inside over the BS he sold America. Then the third came and I couldn’t stop laughing at the horses and bayonets line. So many Republicans tried to paint the line as a dig against soldiers but I’m sure they understood that it was about the effectiveness of the ships and horses and bayonets aren’t effective in our modern military. Romnesia set in big because he actually agreed more than he disagreed with the President. Most notably absent was Libya and he revealed just how little he knew of the Middle East as Iran has bodies of water on both sides of it.

So, the few weeks have Obama at a narrow lead and Romney closing in, Obama expanding it and as early voting set in, Obama leading when things were cross referenced by party. IA kicked it off followed by OH which had seen a lot of jimmying with early voting until the GOP Secretary of State was smacked down. In fact, GOP lead Legislatures curbed early voting while instituting voter ID laws and I thought to myself: WE need to get those overturned once and for all.

Election Day. I have to work that night and I go to a party in Allentown then off to Dem HQ where I watched the 2010 elections. Different mood in the air. I had been to OH two Saturdays leading up to election Day and I was ready to say: 4 More Years Bitches! As some of the polls closed in predictably red states we weren’t phased. First state was VT reported with 3 EVs. Then they came in throughout the night and after OH was called for Obama, we knew he had this. The only states he lost from 2008 to 2012 were IN and NC. I figured NC would go red because of the Governor’s race there.

So, afterwards I’m gloating and I keep thinking about how the Koch Brothers, Karl Rove and Sheldon Adelson must be having a konneption over the results. Karl Rove spoke earlier this year and he presented himself as his larger than life kingmaker status, I soon saw that melt away when he disagreed with FOX news as they were the last to call OH for the President. Reactions from opponents were: Can’t stop crying, America died today, to: Can you please forgive us for that temper tantrum we had called the American Revolution and the War of 1812 your majesty? To I will unfriend and cut off all people who voted Democrat or lean Democratic, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O Reilly said that the angry white man is no longer the majority while Glenn Beck called on folks to go buy farmland and stock up on guns. Throughout the election we saw a neighbor threaten to shoot his neighbor over his Obama lawn sign, the HQ in Denver shot at and the OFA HQ in Boulder I believe had a brick thrown through the window. Effigies and social media were abuzz with calls for assassinating the President and Secret Service was called to a young woman of 16 who tweeted that he should be killed.

Now, I’m gloating because in 2004 Republicans were and they laughed and laughed, rubbed our noses in it like we were dogs who didn’t go on the paper. Now it’s our turn and we will have to make sure that in 2014 we don’t make the same mistake that caused the Red Tide in 2010. If we duplicate the 2012 electorate which SMASHED THE HELL OUT OF THE 2008 electorate, we will never see a Republican take the White House that will advocate Bush style policies. We must also vote for Democrats in the House in 2020 so we can have an edge in Redistricting, which is likely with a Presidential election coming up there, also we must encourage people to report for the census (hopefully NY will gain some seats in 2020) So, my 4 year journey to the Re Election of President Barack Obama