Like everyone else around here tonight, my nerves are frayed and my stomach is churning. With an hour to go before polls close in my current home state of Virginia, the waiting is nearly intolerable. In the interest of preserving my sanity, I'm going to offer you the eight songs that are going to calm me down and get me in the right frame of mind to enjoy our imminent victory:
- Spoon - The Underdog
"You got no time for the messenger,
got no regard for the thing that you don't understand,
you got no fear of the underdog,
that's why you will not survive!"
Spoon speaks bald truth in this song. We are all underdogs, and the Republicans have made the mistake of misunderestimating the biggest underdog of all - Barack Obama. Rock star though he may be, let us not forget that his story is unique also for his ability to overperform expectations.
- Nine Inch Nails - Capital G
"I'm sick of hearing about the have and have-nots
Have some personal accountability.
The biggest problem with the way that we are doing things is
The more we let you have the less that I'll be keeping for me."
Trent Reznor's slightly heavy-handed sendup of red America is a reminder for me of what we oppose: the corrosive, selfish politics of greed. As the centerpiece of the McCain campaign for the past few months, "me-first" politics will be soundly rejected by the electorate tonight.
- Arcade Fire - Windowsill
"Don't wanna hear the noises on TV,
Don't want the salesmen coming after me,
Don't wanna live in my father's house no more."
I can't blame the kids in Arcade Fire for fleeing to Canada. For the past 8 years at least, America has been a house on fire, and there is no shame in fleeing the disaster. For the those of us who stayed behind to fight the fire, though, let us hope that we can soon welcome everyone back and begin to rebuild.
- Bright Eyes - Four Winds
"The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Koran is mute
If you burned them all together you'd be close to the truth, still
They're poring over Sanskrit under Ivy League moons
While shadows lengthen in the sun"
An incendiary statement, no doubt, but I'm sure even the religious among us can agree that looking to ancient books to guide the country forward has not been a productive tactic. Let us no longer ignore the lengthening shadows falling upon our nation while we lose ourselves in the pointless. Let us look to the future instead, with hope and with a renewed sense of purpose.
- The Decemberists - 16 Military Wives
"Because America can
And America can't say no
And America does
If America says it's so, it's so."
I mourn the lost spirit of an America where we could all pull together and accomplish great things as a nation. Similarly, I mourn an America with good will and credibility around the world. I was born during the Reagan administration, and I know of the America I mourn only through history books. I don't think she's quite dead yet, though. It won't be easy to restore our nation to former glories, but I think it is the only alternative and therefore the magnitude of the task is immaterial: it is what we must do. Yes we can.
- The Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil
"I rode a tank held a gen'rals rank when the blitzkrieg
raged and the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you hope you guess my name. Oh yeah
Ah what's puzzling you is the nature of my game."
Because sympathy is all that the devils can hope to get from me tonight. I wouldn't bet on it, though.
- Bloc Party - Helicopter
"Are you hoping for a miracle?
It's not enough."
Tonight, I do not hope for a miracle. I hope for something earthly and harsh and real and genuine. We need more than divinity to face the challenges of the coming days; we need humanity.
- Franz Ferdinand - Lucid Dreams
" There is no nation of you,
There is no nation of me.
Our only nations live in lucid dreams."
Tonight, election night, is the night on which we are simultaneously most and least a nation. We come together at the voting booth to draw the lines that separate us from one another most starkly. The key is, win or lose, tomorrow we will be in America. We will be in the same America as our asshole neighbor with the "One Man, One Woman" bumper sticker on his Hummer, and the same America as the gay couple down the street. The abortion clinic protester lives in the same America as the scared teenager slouching past. You and I will occupy the same America as soon-to-be ex-President Bush, and Senator McCain, and President Elect Obama. We do what we do not for our own good, or for the good of any group, but fur the good of all Americans. We believe that electing President Obama will improve the lives of the bigot and the zealot and yes, even George Bush. Don't forget that we all want the best for everyone in this nation. That's why we're Democrats.