The past two mornings, I’ve woken up, and my first thought was, “is it still true?” (It is!) I still haven’t gotten over that night in 2000 when I went to sleep happily knowing Gore was the next President and woke up to the cold, harsh reality of it all.
But it is true this time! Thanks to everyone who wrote great posts yesterday. I was just too overcome with emotion and thoughts to put something down in words as you all did. (But I couldn’t hold myself back from Tweeting all day.)
And after analysis of the last post, pre-election, Obama’s got a clear 60 to 12 mandate at the Daily Tannenbaum. I don’t think I’ll be needing to filibuster anything soon, but it’s good to know that I can if I need to. I think my first motion is that anyone who voted for Prop 8 in California can go ahead and leave the planet right now. Seriously, it’s not your marriage, why do you care? I can’t even get my head around it that all those couples had legitimate marriages now they don’t. Oh, and don’t even get me started on the Arkansas prop that passed allowing only straight couples adopt kids when the number of kids who needs adopting WAY outnumbers the available adoptive parents.
After all, I have expertise in this issue from watching gay parents adopt on “Six Feet Under,” and watching the cold reality of what happened to the kids from “The Wire” who had to live in a group home, and seeing how being adopted by a “hetero-normal” couple didn’t exactly work out perfectly for John Connor in “Terminator 2,” and the one member of my extended family who is a single woman and fought hard to adopt an orphaned child. I can tell you that being adopted by ANYONE WHO WILL LOVE YOU is better than having to wait to be adopted by a family with a dynamic that has to be approved by a bunch of bigoted voters.
-end rant based on pop culture and my second cousin once removed and her daughter whom I haven’t seen since the Clinton administration-
Besides, I talked to The Grey Boy in Minnesota last night, and he told me not to worry so much about the social stuff, because it’s all part of the process, and Americans will start to come around as time marches on, or some such thing. Then he told me about his experiences being an election judge in his district, which sounded cool until they had to start counting all the absentee ballots at 9:00 at night, after working since the polls opened. I was going to ask him if he gets a chance to be part of the re-count, but then my phone died.
Just before it did die and I realized I left the charger at work (AGAIN!) I mentioned that it would be cool to go to the inauguration on January 20, but for the fact that I’m having the pins in my ankle removed on January 15. He left a message on my dead phone to say that I should totally go, and see if I can get myself a wheelchair so I can get premium access. I love the way he thinks, and because I didn’t get a chance to tell him that I won’t even need crutches after this surgery, I’m now thinking about entertaining the idea. But on second thought, we’re finally escaping from eight years of lies, I’d hate to celebrate a new era with a falsehood. I’ve got 74 days to think it over. SEVENTY-FOUR DAYS!
Posted by cadiz12 on November 6, 2008 at 10:58 am
and don’t forget the nightmare that foster care has the potential to be as depicted in White Oleander and newspaper stories.
my ex’s sister and her partner adopted two kids from India and i can’t even describe the number of hoops they had to jump through, even for the second child, who had a club foot and has benefited greatly from the medical care she has received since coming here.
Posted by stefanie on November 6, 2008 at 11:09 am
I know! WTF, California? You are CALIFORNIA!! If a marriage amendment can pass THERE, is there anywhere in this scary country of homophobes where it WON’T pass??
Breathe. It totally sucks, but still… PRESIDENT OBAMA! Doesn’t that sound lovely enough to make all other bad thoughts go away?
Posted by nancypearlwannabe on November 6, 2008 at 11:16 am
It really is true! I would love to go to the inauguration, it would also fulfill my lifelong dream of seeing DC.
You are 100% correct on the Prop 8: Why does anyone care if someone else wants to get married? It has NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU.
Posted by mickey on November 6, 2008 at 11:38 am
I’ ve been having the same “did that really happen?” thoughts. I think it really did.
Going to the inauguration is an interesting idea that never occurred to me. I already felt like I missed out by not driving up to Chicago on Tuesday.
Posted by lizgwiz on November 6, 2008 at 11:57 am
Maybe Obama will have another contest, to take five supporters to the inauguration, like he did the convention and the watch party. Of course, I didn’t actually WIN either of those contests, but I’m not bitter.
Posted by courtney on November 6, 2008 at 1:30 pm
I’ve actually woken up smiling for the past two days.
Going to the inauguration would be exciting, but OH MY GOD SO MANY PEOPLE. I tend to avoid crowds, so I may celebrate from the safety of my living room.
Posted by sadieandleo on November 6, 2008 at 1:39 pm
“I can tell you that being adopted by ANYONE WHO WILL LOVE YOU is better than having to wait to be adopted by a family with a dynamic that has to be approved by a bunch of bigoted voters.”
I agree!
Posted by Abby on November 6, 2008 at 3:04 pm
If you go to the inaugeration in a wheel chair, Joe Biden might ask you to stand up. And the press might pay too much attention to you, a la Joe the Plumber. Better to keep a low profile.
My daughter and her husband plan to adopt, but I fear too many hoops and too much expense may discourage them.
GObama!
Posted by erikka on November 6, 2008 at 3:28 pm
it’s true, it’s true! every day from now until who knows when will feel like Christmas morning! look what I got – A NEW PRESIDENT!!! Woot woot.
Posted by apollocreed on November 6, 2008 at 3:40 pm
I’m trying to go too, it’s going to be amazing!
Posted by Kyla Bea on November 6, 2008 at 10:33 pm
I’ve been doing the “is this real??” thing too – and every time it’s like I get to re-live the excitement and happiness of this shift.
Woo! 74 works for me!
Posted by Allie on November 7, 2008 at 8:27 am
I am SO excited about the presidency.
Also, I agree with you completely about Prop 8. People loving and committing to each other doesn’t hurt ANYONE. Seriously. And I think it undermines MY marriage to turn marriage into a political game. It’s saying that marriage is about politics, not love, and I’m offended by that. And I’m sick of living in a society that declares some people second class citizens. That’s not what we’re supposed to be about. I don’t understand why everyone isn’t outraged by this. It’s a human rights issue. When rights are denied to a group of people for arbitrary reasons, we should all be upset.
Posted by Aaron on November 7, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Woah, we both used Terminator 2 references to make unrelated points on our blogs this week. Although in my case, I saw ten minutes of it on TV the other night, so I’m guessing that’s my excuse.