108 days until the morning of November 4, 2008.
I have been lulled into complacency. So much good news going on. The Maliki endorsement of Obama, his trip overseas, recent polling news, his June fundraising numbers. It's gonna be a landslide. It's a steam train, and it's rolling. How could this POSSIBLY go wrong?
But do you remember that morning? That morning on December 13, 2000 when President Al Gore conceded that the election had indeed been stolen? We knew Bush would be bad, but I was only 23 and had plenty of time. America was still her grand self, even if there was a bump in the road named Bush.
And then he surpassed all of our wildest expectations. He was so much worse than just bad. 4 years of horrible. Our country in shatters - 9/11, the runup to the war, economic downturn...it had to end.
Oh, but then do you remember that morning in November of 2004 when we woke up to the news that, indeed, we had four more years of exactly the same? Ohio was lost, Kerry conceded. Do you remember this headline? Yeah, that one. The 51% "mandate". I am not trying to cause any sort of vicarious PTSD, but do you remember how it felt?
I was just drying my hair, looking in the mirror. Happy for a pleasant, calm Saturday afternoon. Feeling the inevitable pull of hope, pull of the future. Al Gore and his speech. Thinking this is the new dawn, there is the light and this will happen. And then I shocked to imagine, really see that newspaper headline. That one that I thought there was no way I would see in 2004. The one that I honestly would despair over seeing in 2008. We have lost 2,687 soldiers since Bush started his 2nd term, including one very dear friend of mine. Families shattered, the economy shattered, Katrina, our country bruised and battered. And we stand at the precipice.
Do not mistake, this is no concern diary. One only needs to look at my history to know that I am 100% in support of Obama and our blue majority in every corner of this nation. This year is different, and I know that.
But I have become complacent. I have slacked off in my volunteer efforts as it has gotten hotter and busier this summer. I have read the headlines and all of the news here, and the air of invulnerability is getting to me. I can't let that happen. I had my daughter in 2005. She is 3 now. There is so much more at stake for me, for her, for all of us.
$50 to Obama today. I can't afford it, I just got a tax bill. But I can't not afford it, either. Because the despair of waking up on November 5 to find that my awareness came too late is just too much for me to think about. Netroots Nation, I salute you for your action this weekend.
No complacency, no rest. Live the next 108 days like your life depends on it, because in a lot of ways, it does.