Results

On the electoral count, so far it seems I was one state off -- Ohio. Assuming Indiana, Missouri, Montana, and North Carolina go R, which does not seem unreasonable.

I'm watching the Obama speech now, and it's generic. Minus the newfound emphasis on the racial dimension of politics. I like it, but given Obama's standard it's nothing exceptional.

I think I'm still on a life high from seeing my students on Franklin Street. Joe, we're old or are getting there. I notice myself moderating my views, from communist to socialist. But on Franklin Street, before the police blocked us off, I saw some of my students. And they were excited about democracy (note the small "d"), and hopefully it'll stick. You and I are political junkies, but I hope these kids stay political.

While watching the Obama speech, the people crying about his election, I finally get the pull of his candidacy. All day I've felt close to crying, and I started out as a Hillary supporter. (For no other reason than she could break a hold in the Senate.) But here I am, behind Obama and hoping nothing crazy happens in the next few days.

I finally get the "hope" message. It's not about policy but about how we, as a collective, can overcome the second dimension of politics, which is so trivial when you get right down to it (even though you are friends with Coggin and Locher who pay more attention to it than they should). As I was told last year, race has always been an issue in American politics that no one has handled well. It's not whether or not we actually overcome the problems, but that we're at least willign to tackle it head-on. One of the problems of growing up in El Paso is that you don't fully realize how much race still plays into American politics. Maybe America can be more like El Paso in that sense as a result of this election.

I also like that the results were called pre-midnight. Oh, newest prediction: stock markets rise world-wide tomorrow.