Well, Obama is in and we'll see what happens now. After voting for Nader, I've more or less lost interest in the political show. Naturally, being a helpless liberal (helpless in the sense that I'd cut off my right arm before I'd debase myself as a conservative camp follower), I feel some satisfaction in the rejection of McPalin, but it's at a remove. The old whores will be leaving Washington, and the new whores will move in. However, I can understand the joy of those who voted for Obama. When it seemed apparent a few days ago that he would win, daughter Ellen wrote: "There'll be time to be disappointed in him in the future. Now, I just want to be hopeful."
Pleasant day yesterday. Pat slept very late and I busied myself with chores. A. stopped in to show us her medal, marathon shirt and jacket, and the sign Jeremy made her. I took pictures and sent to various relatives. She took some time off and will come down to be with Pat while I go to lunch with Mary Ann Van O. tomorrow.
And here's why I voted for Nader:
Imagine being a young mother in Afghanistan. You're--say, 24, and your soft-spoken, easy-going husband is a mechanic. You have two little children. Rashid is 5 and wants to do everything his daddy does; Kashir is almost 2, with curly hair and a real talent for patty-cake.
Somebody shows you a translated excerpt from an editorial in the New York Times:
"Mr. Obama’s challenge will be to manage an orderly withdrawal from Iraq without igniting new conflicts so the Pentagon can focus its resources on the real front in the war on terror, Afghanistan."
Would you realize that allowing the Pentagon to "focus its resources on...Afghanistan" actually means the possibility of seeing Rashid screaming in terror and the brains inside your little curly-head spattered on a wall?
"Focusing resources" sounds a lot better, doesn't it? Let's always go for the soothing words so we can pass over what they mean.