Wednesday, November 3, 2004

The Next Morning I fell asleep and dreamt on and off all night, only to wake up to late returns, rumors of finality, and wide-eyed analysis. I woke up around 11:30 from a dream that was all-encompassing and utterly opaque. I remembered nothing about this dream, except that I was completely immersed in it. I woke up and wondered what world I could have been escaping into, when the blaring radio next to me kept shouting the same numbers for hours on end? What was there to dream about if it wasn't the election? What else existed besides the election? Did anything else truly exist, last night? I woke up later from a dream where I was sitting at this computer, looking up the I can't shake the tears out of my eyes this morning. Bush has a four-million vote lead in the popular vote. Even if Kerry does the unthinkable and finds a way to challenge and reverse Ohio's seemingly irreversible tilt, will it matter? Al Gore won the popular vote by 500,000. Bush is ahead by 4 million. Anti-gay initiatives won in eleven states out of eleven. Tom Daschle, the pipsqueak Senate Minority Leader, lost his seat in South Dakota.  He was consoled by George McGovern.  Ouch. The chimp won Florida by 400,000 votes. Air America Radio is talking about shenanigans in Ohio and trying to show a brave face, but it sounds awfully quiet. It seems very much like a eulogy. They've declared themselves the center of the resistance, but I don't know what's left to resist. The world - my world - seemed impossibly united before this election. Springsteen and Eminem were on the same side. Howard Stern and John Zogby declared it a fait accompli. Conservatives and progressives were declaring a Kerry victory. So many experts and pundits seemed sure of the outcome that yesterday should have been a formality. But they were all wrong. Right now, I'm telling myself reassuring things about second-term presidents. Clinton was hamstrung by the Whitewater/Lewinsky impeachment business. Reagan was crippled by the Iran/Contra scandal and swarming indictments of his cabinet. And of course, Nixon didn't finish his second term. I genuinely believe that the electorate is more attentive to politics now than they have been in generations. And that is good news, because a watchful public does not have the wool pulled over their eyes. He will be fought on every initiative, attacked on every foolish proposal or appointment. He will be resisted. Update 8:50 AM Kerry has conceded.  The goons on ABC and NPR are both saying that Bush should be conciliatory in his victory speech.  Maybe he'll be a little less aggressive in term 2. On the other hand, he could be a complete asshole and mobilize the entire country against him.  Win-win. 7:04:10 AM     comment []