Election Results & War Tactics

Hee hee, I wrote the following post, but wanted to lighten it up by sharing a really cool war video. Enjoy! Then read my heartfelt sentiments about the election!



OK, so I think that the family votes in ... hmmm ... one ... two ... three ... four different states (and there is a strong potential that the parents voted from a fifth -- or even Mexico -- if they used their absentee ballots), and I'm almost as sure that we voted for at least two different candidates.

Not that it matters much, but I voted for Obama. I'm not a huge fan (Biden was my first choice, he dropped out, Hillary was my next choice), and I don't think the McCain/Obama economic policies are all that different, but I really admire Obama's seeming ability to pull people together. I remember reading about a rally where he mentioned McCain's name and there were boos, but he responded, "Don't boo. Vote." That's the kind of temperament I want in a world leader. I think Obama can pull people together in a way that McCain is probably not capable of -- and mostly because McCain's loyalty to Bush really hurt his credibility with people.

But that's all neither here nor there. I've heard from folks on both sides, I can understand and appreciate the view of those who voted for McCain.

I bring all of this up because I saw just one of the ugliest bits of behavior on the internet that I've seen in a while, from one of the writers on the internet that I most admire. Linda Holmes is a writer (blogger is kind of disrespectful because that lumps her in with the likes of me), and in the past couple of weeks she's posted a few pro-Obama things. My reaction was essentially to ignore it, it's her blog, she can make her own editorial decisions. I thought it seemed like she picked a fight with a guy who said he disagreed with her position on the election, but -- again -- it's her blog, she can fight with people.

Then the day after the election she posted something that struck me as ... odd. I'll link to it, but I think it's fair to paraphrase it as relief and happiness that the election had gone the way it had, but also an indication that she thought we should all take a day to be obnoxious about this. She called a Gloat Day (gloat is her word, not mine). Check it out, maybe I'm wrong.

I read it and thought to myself (initially), it's her blog, she can post what she wants. But as the day went on, it stuck with me. I thought to myself that -- of all the reasons I voted for Obama -- this was the absolute most important one to me: this country needs to unite to solve some very serious problems. I was -- I am -- appalled that an educated thinker whose opinions I generally respect thinks even the smallest service could stem from this kind of petty exercise.

On Barack Obama's list of ways to celebrate this election this way is at the bottom.

You can read Linda's and her readers' Gloat Day here. It's just as petty and ugly as you might imagine. And it all makes me very sad -- because (to spin Mr. Obama's own words) maybe it shows that we can't.