I voted yesterday, just as I do every single time I am given the opportunity (I am out there on primary day as well, and I vote every year, not every two or every four). But that was the extent of my political activism this year. I was too worn down by more political commercials than I can count, too tired of hearing about it for the past year, and I didn’t do everything I could. I didn’t make my own get out the vote calls as the Obama administration and MoveOn and the Democrats asked me to do. Instead, I posted on Twitter and Facebook, and let it go at that. I didn’t even post my get out the vote message on this blog. I was complacent, I relied on social media to do my job for me, and I woke up in a red country. I’m sorry for that, and I will do better next time.

Now, Republicans, I’m willing to listen to what you have to say. I’m eager to see how you think you can do better. But if by better, you mean “Take away the healthcare that gave many of my friends with pre-existing conditions a chance to see doctors,” if you mean “Call everyone who doesn’t agree with us Socialists and Nazis and Communists and Hitler,” if you mean “Get rid of the things Obama has been able to do in the two years he’s had to clean up the mess it took Asshat Dubya eight years to make,” well then, you’re on notice. I’m here, I’m not leaving, and I’ve been reminded that it’s not just my civic duty to vote, it’s my civic duty to fight for what I believe in, because no one else should be expected to do that for me. I’m going to start doing that, just like a MOTHERFUCKING ADULT!

(Credit to Allie Brosh for the last phrase, even if I didn’t use it in her original context.)

Happy birthday, Mr. Obama. I think this is one hell of a birthday present.

Huh? I did a double take. This kind of shit cannot be happening, it’s too good to be true. But it is happening! And it gets better! Because he wasn’t nude hiking after all, he was in Buenos Aires with his mistress.

It’s days like this that go a long way towards making up for the Asshat Administration. The continuing trainwreck that is the Republican party: now this is good TV.

I did not blog the Inauguration because I was out enjoying it. Bet your ass I took the day off work for it and drank champagne like a…champagne-drinking fish. I wanted to relish that day, sort of roll around in the feeling out on the street (not the street itself because ew, have you see a Brooklyn street?). And I did. And then for the next week and a half, I held my breath, thinking surely the reality was not going to be as good as I imagined it. But it IS! Every day, I find a new reason to dig our President. For the first couple of days, it was just having an articulate President again after the long drought that got me. Then, he talks to the Middle East. Articulately. Then, he signs the Fair Pay Restoration Act. Then, he’s a Steelers fan! He is having a hell of a first two weeks in office. And yes, I know he will undoubtedly piss me off at some point in this Presidency, but right now it’s the “new boyfriend stage” of the relationship, when everything is awesome between us.

Also, my Steelers are in the Super Bowl. Truly, I don’t think life gets any better than this.

We’ve had some fun times over the last eight years, haven’t we? Like that time that you had intelligence about terrorists planning a massive attack on US soil and you didn’t do anything and as a result thousands died and a large hole was left in my city’s skyline and heart? That was awesome, especially when you didn’t show up to see how we were doing for days afterwards. Oooh, or how about that one time when there was a massive hurricane, and it left thousands more dead and millions homeless, and you praised your friend “Brownie” for the wonderful job he was doing while another city was dying before our eyes? That was a hell of a party, but as I recall you were late to that one, too. Or how about these fun wars you’ve gotten us into halfway around the world? The ones that cost…hey, thousands of lives again, I’m sensing a trend, how about you? Man, it’s been a blast, hasn’t it?

And now the whole country is celebrating, huge parties are going on practically right outside your windows, and those bastards didn’t even invite you! How rude can you get? I feel badly about that, G Dub, really I do. Well, actually, I feel badly that those parties didn’t happen four years ago…no, wait, I feel badly that those parties didn’t happen eight years ago. I know it would have been a little hard to celebrate you leaving office if you hadn’t ever taken office, but what the hell. If you had never taken office, those thousands of people might still be alive, and the rest of us might not be broke, unemployed, in danger of losing our houses, and losing money hand over fist on our retirement packages, that is, those of us who still have them.

But that didn’t happen, and we’ve had to look at your little monkey face and listen to your good ol’ boy accent (dude, seriously, where’d you get that? I know your parents don’t talk like that!) until I wanted to throw things at the TV. Sometimes I did throw things at the TV, actually. I’m just lucky I always remembered to throw something soft like a sock, and not a shoe or a brick. This country has become hated across the planet, and there were a lot of times when I was more than a little ashamed to admit that I was an American. All because of you, Asshat. That is one hell of a legacy you’re leaving behind, isn’t it?

In seventeen or so hours (not that I’m counting down or anything), you will leave office and another man will take your place. I worked for that man’s campaign, I gave him my votes in the primary and the general election, I contributed to his campaign. I have never wanted anything more than I wanted him to be in office, and because of that, tomorrow’s a little like a second Christmas for me. You see, every time I hear that man speak, I am calmed. I am comforted. I am uplifted. I am inspired. I see a man who is more intelligent than I am poised to lead us, and I am glad of it. I never wanted someone I could go drink with as my President. That’s what I have friends for. I wanted someone who could look at a situation from every angle and decide what was best for this country based on a rational decision, not just what he felt like doing in that second. I get that tomorrow. I wanted someone who understood technology instead of fearing it. I get that tomorrow – someone who not only understands it but uses it on a daily basis. I wanted someone who cared what I thought. Me and the millions of people like me, who are supposed to be represented by him. I get that tomorrow, too. I feel like I just won the goddamned lottery. All the things that I was supposed to have eight years ago, I finally get. Tomorrow. It’s almost enough to make you break into song like a certain redheaded orphan, but I won’t.

Tonight I raise a beer to you, Asshat. Not because I like you or anything you’ve done, not because I feel sorry for you, but because in seventeen or so hours, this country can start to move forward. We are in shit because you put us here, but I think we’ll come out of it stronger. At least, that’s what I hope. It’s nice to have hope again.

Enjoy your last night in the White House, Asshat. I have many wishes and hopes for your future, but since none of them are nice and this is my last letter to you, I’ll keep them to myself. Catch you on the flip side.

Julie

Oh yeah, I did something else, too. I went from this:

To this:

The Oldest says I look kind of like Emma Thompson. I will take that as a compliment. I love Emma Thompson, and the Oldest knows that.

I was cautious about this election. After getting kicked in the teeth the past two elections, I was skeptical that we wouldn’t see a third stolen election. I made nervous jokes yesterday that it was going to be historic one way or another: either we would have our first black President or we would have a country that was rioting because a third election had been stolen. I knew Barack Obama has what it takes, I’ve been saying it since before the primaries. And I knew the polling numbers were high, but I can’t trust numbers entirely. What I didn’t trust was that certain people in power wouldn’t try to steal another one. My faith in Barack was complete. My faith in the system, in tatters.

But last night, seeing first Pennsylvania go blue (yay for those calls I made to PA from the phonebank on Sunday!), and then Ohio (yay for the calls I made to OH last week!)…I knew something was happening. I felt hope surging through me like electricity. I turned to Lori, who is from Ohio, and said “Oh, look at the TV! Your state is BLUE!!!” and we went nuts. I left the party I was at shortly thereafter and went to the Upper West Side to watch the end of the night with Rick and the girls. We had sent the Youngest to bed shortly before 11, but the Oldest and one of her friends were watching TV with us at 11 when the polls on the West Coast closed. At first we all misread the title on MSNBC, and I remember saying “He’s the projected winner of what? Which state?” and then Rick said “He’s the projected winner of the ELECTION.” All hell broke lose, and we ran out onto the balcony to hear the sounds of New York City going nuts around us. Cheers, screams, horns honking, pots and pans banging together, and we were screaming right back at everyone.

The calls started pouring in then, and in the middle of it I saw a shot of Jesse Jackson crying and thought about how much this must mean to him. I heard a black man say that now he can tell his son that the boy could grow up to be President and not be lying anymore. And when Jordana called, I burst into tears because I thought of Samang, our little girl who is half white American and half black African, just like Barack. Jordana put the baby on the phone, and with tears streaming down my face I said “Little girl, you’re not going to remember it, but this is an important night. You can grow up to be President if you want to. You can do anything.”

This morning, I woke up with a smile on my face. There is work ahead of us. A lot of work. And I think you could see that realization in Obama’s smile last night. But I’m hopeful again. After eight years, the nightmare of Dubya is almost over, and we’ve got a smart, caring, thoughtful man as our future president. I hope he knows that his volunteer “army” as the press calls us, is still out here for him. Supporting him, and ready for him to tell us what to do next. Because this campaign has taught us that we can be an active part of this government, that our voices will be heard, and I think we all want to continue in that great work. We’re waiting, President Obama. Just let us know what you need.

This was the scene in my polling place this morning. I kinneared it with my cell. I have NEVER seen this many people there. Ever. In my tiny district, I was number 82 to vote, and that was at 8:15 this morning. And all I could think of while I waited for my turn to vote was “How great is this? How awesome is it that all these people have come out to vote?” I almost had tears in my eyes because this is democracy in action in a way that we don’t normally see it, and it excites me to see voter turnout like this.

If you haven’t already voted, GO VOTE. Right now. Starbucks will give you free coffee if you do. Ben & Jerry’s will give you free ice cream. I will give you respect.

If you’ve already voted, good job. Now go ask all of your family and friends if they’ve voted. If they haven’t, take them to the polls. Get them out there. Because as we all know in this country, it’s not over until the votes have all been counted three times, and even then we’re not sure if the elections have been stolen. Get out the vote!

I totally stole that from Regan, by the way. I had to, because it is full of win. And it’s all political all the time here until the votes are in, so we might as well have some fun with it.

I made calls for the Obama campaign again last night, and might again tonight and tomorrow night. This election has got me edgy, and the only way I can take the edge off is to make more Get Out the Vote phone calls. Because if I’m making phone calls, I am not sitting around watching MSNBC and wondering how the state I grew up in can be so damned close to red right now.

The phonebank yesterday gave me a lot of reasons to hope. It’s what’s termed a “mega call center,” because for the first time in history, the Obama campaign is outsourcing its phonebanking in battleground states to volunteers in neighboring states. In my case, they get lots of giant spaces in New York, get as many volunteers as possible together in those places, and we make the get out the vote calls in Pennsylvania. That means that the campaign volunteers who are actually in those states can be freed up to go knocking on doors and get out the vote in person. It also means that the poor people in Pennsylvania are feeling completely besieged, because we’re calling them and knocking on doors and so are the McCain campaign people. I ended up introducing myself yesterday as a volunteer for the Obama campaign and then saying “I realize that you have probably gotten calls from everyone and their brother today,” which broke the ice because they admitted that they had and started laughing.

But anyway, my reasons for hope: when I came in at four, they had me sign in on a sheet of paper that had room for about 15-20 sign ins. They were on sheet number 21 for the day. I’ll let you do the math, because I suck at it, but people were coming in in droves. This was just one of the call centers in Brooklyn. I can only hope that all the other call centers were that busy with people who really want a change in goverment to happen tomorrow. The other thing that inspired me was that people had brought their kids along with them. I saw kids as young as 8 or 9 making phone calls because they wanted to help, too. I love the idea of getting kids involved in politics in such a real way. Let them know that they can make a difference too, educate them that their voice matters, and in ten years you will have a generation of young people who are eager to vote. I really believe that Barack Obama has the potential to do that for the next generation, and I’m glad of it. We’ve been cynical about politics for as long as I can remember, and it’s nice to see that changing.

I know we’re all tired of this election. I know we’re tired of getting bombarded with phone calls, and negative ads, and junk mail. But if we hold on for another 30 hours or so, and get out and vote, and drag our friends, family members, co-workers, neighbors, etc. out with us…we might have what we’ve been craving for a long time. Change. Don’t give up now, we are so, so close. And as Barack said, “You don’t run up *to* the finish line, you run *through* it.” Keep running, people.