Political Super Bowl: Election Day 2008

Now, I never intended for this blog to be a political sounding board, and I'm not about to start now. But I'd be hard-pressed to make an entry for today and not talk about my impressions on the national elections.

Coverage of the long lines, voting machine malfunctions and voter fraud legal preparations had begun several days before today. And it was true that there were long lines in many places, but as the evening went on, reports started coming in that polling stations were eerily quiet, and there had been (barring a few rather sinister text messages telling all Democrats and Obama supporters to vote on Wednesday) no real incidents to speak of. Far cry from the mayhem of recent elections.

I briefly stopped by WalMart to pick up some diapers and fill up the car. There was a rush on the gas pump on false reports that an Obama victory would drive gas prices up by as much as $2 this week. People, people... Economics 101: the price of a good or service is generally reactionary, meaning that it goes up BECAUSE of a rush. On the flip side of that, if you DON'T rush, the price will not jump. There were some people at the pump filling all their car gas tanks and storage jugs and large water dispenser bottles with gasoline. When I went inside for diapers, there was a mob of people in the sporting good section. Apparently there was a run on firearms and ammunition as well, on fears that all the guns were going to be taken away tomorrow. Only in Texas... Stupid people should not be allowed to breed.

Poor D was sick, so we spent most of the evening upstairs on the futon watching election coverage on the various news outlets. I was pretty amazed at how different the tone of the various agencies were:
-NBC affiliate had a fluffy feel-good coverage/interview with several people on the Obama team. When they cut to the local coverage, they had one happy, upbeat reporter at the off-the-hook Obama watch party downtown and one relatively unhappy-looking reporter at the nearly empty bar-and-grill hosting the McCain watch party.
-Fox coverage was not reporting any projection numbers that put Obama ahead for a good 2-3 hours into the count. As a result, their numbers had McCain ahead for a little while, even while it was pretty clear the race was over in several states. In addition to their right-leaning reporting of the events unfolding, they had some pretty incendiary commentary.
-ABC tried their best to be balanced by pairing Sam Donaldson with Rick Klein, but Sam went on too many bitter side-topics, grilled the liberal guests, and told too many stories of yesteryear and the old glory days for the more liberal Rick, or any of the other guest analysts, to say much.
-And, as always, I followed the Comedy Central coverage as well. As silly as it sounds, I have found that they have the most balanced (read: all are mocked equally :P ) coverage available at just about any time, despite being mostly satire. The facts that the satire is built on are easy to pick up and you're left with factual coverage and intelligent humor and commentary. More than I felt I got from the fluffy-feel-good or the fire-n-brimstone coverage. Ironic that it comes from a comedy channel. I've watched election coverage on Comedy Central since the 2000 race and have yet to be disappointed.

The night, as we all know, was called for Obama pretty early on, and just after the west coast closed shop, McCain appeared to make a speech. I, as probably was most of America, was expecting him to say that it wasn't over, and that they were going to investigate possible voter fraud and this, that and the other thing. Instead, he delivered an eloquent, gracious concession speech. On top of that, when he mentioned Obama by name, and the crowd cried its usual boo, he quieted them. Not once, but twice. In my opinion, that spoke very highly of him as a gentleman, a soldier and a patriot to gracefully bow out and say what he did. On the flip side, I found Obama's speech to be too close to an inaugural address for the moment. I mean, it was an awesome speech, and he's been known for his rhetorical flair, I just thought it was a little heavy for the moment. Except for the part where he said his daughters could finally have their puppy. :)

Regardless of whether you liked the outcome of the night or not, I'd ask you to pray for our next president, his advisors, and our country.