Can we or can’t we?
Whatever is on your schedule today, be sure to vote, if you have not done so already. It is an important election and an exciting one. Make certain that you are a player in the outcome.We at Accidental Blogger, hope that you will vote for Senator Barack Obama and other Democratic candidates on your ballot. As I have warned before, nothing is yet decided. We really do not know how things will turn out at the end of this evening. So, if you are an Obama supporter, please don’t be complacent. Remember 2000 and that every vote counts.
The tracking polls, the mood and most other indicators point to a possible Obama victory. So why am I not counting my chickens? Why the nail biting? Well, like most other "twice bitten, thrice shy" Democrats, I am not at all sure that things will really go our way this time. Even some pro-Obama columnists are joking nervously. One of them (Ellen Goodman) writes:
BOSTON — Have you noticed that the spookiest colors of the season are not orange and black but red and blue? As Halloween slips into Election Day, the race for the White House has scared more grown-ups than any trip to the haunted house.
I’m not talking about John McCain’s farewell fright tour, although it is sad to see the senator trade in his superhero costume for that of fearmonger. After trying on assorted masks, he’s settled on profiling his opponent as “Barack the Redistributor” who will take money away from hardworking Americans, “coddle criminals” and, no doubt, ask Bill Ayers to be secretary of state.
With all the infighting in the coven around the maverick and the fair maiden, it’s tempting to call the McCain campaign the Gang That Couldn’t Fly a Broomstick Straight.
But the striking thing is not how the Republicans are trying to scare undecided voters. It’s how spooked the most committed Democrats are.
The closer Obama comes to victory, the more terror strikes deep in the (blue) heartland. The better things look, the more they worry that it’s “trick or trick” time. The election, like that dollar bill on the sidewalk, will be whipped out of their hands….
Every optimistic scenario for Obama is countered darkly by pre-emptive conspiracy theories explaining how it could turn into bad news….
Do you remember when the Obama rallying cry was “Yes, we can”? Now we are in the scary season and here’s the new mantra: The only thing we have to fear is hope itself.
Also some bloggers are having a bit of post-Halloween fun at the expense of the white- knuckle Dems.
I guess we have a right to be nervous. Not much has gone our way for a long time although the 2006 congressional races turned things around a bit. Perhaps 2008 will break the jinx more decisively and put the White House too on our side of the ledger. I am not crunching favorable numbers and statistics. I am worried about a somewhat more iffy factor.
Go Obama … and Bob Barr!
Accidental Blogger 
7 responses to “Gobama!”
woah, huffpos leaked the first leaked exits, and it’s WAY tighter than it “should” be!
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Gaaah! I almost wasn’t allowed to vote today in SW PA. My voter’s card was mysteriously missing (or the Majority clerk (R) wasn’t doing a good job of locating it.) I had shown my county-issued ID to them, and the election supervisor confirmed my name was in the voter’s book and I could vote. They gave me a spare voter’s card to fill out and sign.
My husband, on the other hand, had no such problems when voting about an hour after me. The lines were definitely longer than normal at the polling place, and the average wait was 1/2 hour instead of 5 minutes. It could get worse in the evening, I think.
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Sujatha,
Rush Limbaugh is frothing at the mouth about voter intimidation at polling places by Black Panther members in the Philly area. Are you hearing anything on your local media?
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No, there’s nothing on the local media about Black Panther members here that I can find. They’re all about Ben Roethlisberger’s MRI and a truck crash on I-70, at the moment, with a description of especially long lines in one location to the East of Pgh.
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Here is what I heard Limbaugh describe.
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So, these are supposed to be the B-guys to accomplish what the B-girl could not! I wish the next admin would do something to get the Rush Limbaughs off the air-waves.
I was more intimidated by the clueless shuffling of the Majority clerk, thankfully put an end to by the lady checking my ID against the list in the voter book and the election supervisor. Why employ ‘Black Panthers’ when you can ‘scrub’ people out by incompetence?
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Here’s background on the Black Panther story. And here are even more sad stories about voter suppression.
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