My Post-Election Hangover

Since I obviously missed the deadline for me to post this comment (sorry about that by the way) I have the advantage of posting after the 2008 presidential election. Here is the story of my experience.

All the freshmen in my building congregated in one room, filling the three available couches, all four desk chairs, and most of the floor space. With the exception of one friendly Texan, every one of us was rooting for Obama. Needless to say, spirits were pretty high as state after state turned blue on MSNBC’s map. Cheers broke out when the election was called at 11:00 p.m. We even got a “Yes We Can!” chant going that seemed to shake the floor a bit. McCain’s concession was well received, but some side-conversations and celebrations continued. When Obama came to the podium, however, all was silent; all eyes were on the TV. I’ll admit I got chills a few times, considering the profound nature of that moment and listening to our President-Elect speak.

I went to sleep feeling hopeful for America.

Wednesday morning I woke up and idly checked my Facebook (I promise this post is going somewhere). I was expecting the standard fare: a wall post or two, extraneous invites from people I barely know, maybe something in my inbox. What I found was far more interesting, and disturbing.

Dozens of people had updated their statuses. But these were not mundane details or unintelligible song lyrics. Each was a political statement, all variations on the same theme: Obama is not my President.

A few examples:
David is time to move to canada or something.
Mark says don't vote for OSAMA!
Christopher is Lord Jesus, please remain with us these next years and allow your plan to unfold. Help the people of our country follow you next time. Amen.
Laura. . . well, we might as well move to china.
Morgan feels sick... God put your hands over us.

Now, these are all people from my high school, which was (if you hadn’t noticed) very conservative. And most were conservative in that juvenile “I don’t care about politics, but just trust my parents” way, so at first I didn’t give it too much thought. But when I realized how many of the smart kids, people I really respected, had taken similar steps, then I got worried.

Here’s the best example: one of the smartest girls in our class had joined a group entitled, “Don’t Blame Me, I Voted For McCain.” The group picture is a flag a half-mast. The description begins, “First let me say, let's pat ourselves on the back. We did what we could and it's time to point fingers at irresponsible citizens known as liberals.”

Now you can probably see why my hopeful enthusiasm of the night before began to fade. Do people really feel this way? I was unhappy when Bush won elections, but never would call those who voted for him “irresponsible citizens.” The sort of rhetoric I’ve just shown you makes me fear what democracy has come to mean for so many young people. Is it just about who can come up with the best one-liner? The best sarcastic put-down? So many are not even willing to give Obama a chance, it seems. Even though a majority of Americans support him, many clearly hate him. They hate him two months before he even takes office.

The next four years are going to be tough. As glad I am Obama won the election, he’s going to be faced with major challenges, and I fear that he could fail. Now, more than ever, we need a united America – e pluribus unum. We need the new politics Obama has been talking about for so long – concern for the best policy, not just scoring political points. I hope he can win over some of these people, but, in this case, I don’t see much hope for change.

Sorry for the wall of text.