Ive been in a funk for at least eight years. It all came to a head in 1999. Friends, I could not believe that the candidacy of George Walker Bush was being taken seriously by folks of seeming intelligence. It got me down. Your welcome to continue down with me after the jumpy thing.
The election of W was bad enough. After screaming at the teevee screen for so many days, and then witnessing the banana republican renderings of the supreme court..well I just felt like shit. Jesus, I thought, this is going to be bad.
I feared Cheney and his coterie of Iran-contra nutters from the get go. When he and the boy president started going hell's bells for Iraq, I thought..okay, relax, they've over-played their hand, this is just sheer folly.
Folly!
More screaming at the teevee. This had to stop, surely some Shirely, Tom ..well forget about Dick.. or Harry will put and end to this in the popular press. No Clothes! The boy president has no clothes on! I kept waiting to hear this from our 'serious' journalists. Nothing.
Then came the glorious shocking and awing. The (near) total absence of critical press. Well, I stopped yelling at the teevee, turned to the internets and sought some salve, if not salvation.
Juan Cole, Hullabaloo, Atrios, TPM, and KOS got me through 2004. Things still sucked on such a large geopolitical, constitutional, and rational level, but it was of some comfort to at least know that I wasn't yelling at my teevee in a vacuum. There was actually a community of millions yelling at their teevees and it felt better not standing alone anymore.
2006 picked up the spirits. Though the teevee still treated every utterance of the boy president with near reverence, the majority of the American voting public started to say enough! Enough with the trumped up war, enough with the total negligence towards governing, enough with the bloody lobbyists, enough with the Brownies! Enough!
Still the ensuing years were not overly good...the continued success of the boy president and his cheneyness in framing the legislation to 'support the troops'. The blue dogs in Congress, and the yellow dogs in the media still refused to admit presidential nakedness.
2007 brought some measure of hope. The republicans were in disarray, the economy, after suffering many indignities to the rectum, was in arrears. Folks are well and truly pissed off at the sorry road they'd been led down these last painfull years. Bright lights on the horizon named Hillary, Edwards, and Obama....owhoma??
It's the Dems year and that's for sure. Edwards...yeah he's fine, but just couldn't light the fire this time around. Hillary...hey, Clinton always beats a Bush what? Obama, why not?
I followed the early part of the race with some interest. I liked 'em all, but man, I had a soft spot for the guy with the funny name. I rarely go with front-runners, me likes the underdogs. Still, it was Hillary's to lose, let's be honest.
Whack!! Iowa!
The win and the speech and the energy and the kids and the old folks and the white folks and the three black folks and and...and I was just blown away! I'm starting to feel good.
The race goes on, and on, I'm becoming upset with Ms. Clinton, I'm thinking, shit...this is going to end badly. She and the old guard, the DLCers and the consultants and the Washington hangers-on are going to manage to take this thing. Damn!
SuperduperwhooperTuesday! My guy's hangin' in there..yes!
Eleven-in-a-row-in-February. My guy's the front runner!
Ohio, bam! Pennsylvania, bam! Media's buying into the comeback shit too...but the numbers say...ahhhhh shit!
North Hallelujah Carolina! Indiana!
I watched video of the rally in Portland...read Obama was going to be in Iowa on Tuesday evening, it finally looks like he's won this and I'm just over the moon.
There's still plenty of ups and downs to come, but man, It sure feels good to feel good again!