I suppose I would have been less shocked and disappointed if Obama had lost than when Kerry did because I could not, still cannot, imagine how anyone could have regarded Bush as even minimally competent by November 2004. But still it was extraordinary to wake at ten past four this morning, and switch on the kitchen radio in the middle of McCain’s concession speech. It was the best news since 1989. I don’t really suppose that Obama can rescue America but what gives me hope is the fantastic volunteer effort that got him elected. It’s impossible to imagine that kind of popular movement in this country, even for donkey welfare.
One other point: Tim Bray, in his comments, was lamenting the absence of a credible conservative voice in American politics. But as far as I can hear, this is exactly the voice they have elected. Just as Kerry was an Eisenhower Republican, Obama seems to me to be exactly the kind of conservative who understands when change is inevitable. The great question is he will prove enough of a statesman to manage things so that everything changes in order for everything to stay the same. Whatever else he is, he’s not a destructive revolutionary, far less so than Bush was in his blundering way.
Whatever happens next – and it is a curiously multi-dimensional thing that has just happened – I would like to know whether the core Republican vote comes to realise what an act of bankrupt cynicism they had in Palin.
The most delightful thing there is the revelation — from Fox News — that Palin did not realise that Africa was a continent rather than a name given to a group of countries. Nor could she name the (three) members of Nafta.
The other thing you have to love about the Fox News thing is the relentlessly upbeat ticker across the bottom, so if the true believers merely had it on as wallpaper, and did not listen, they would never hear anything to disturb their faith in the Republicans. Part of me squirms in admiration at the way in which totalitarian techniques adopt to a democracy by becoming even more finely targeted, so that they now only fool the people who want to be fooled.
Nor could she name the (three) members of Nafta
Which is surprising, really, when you consider that she can see two of the three from her house.
The moment, on Tuesday night, when MSNBC announced that Obama was going to win Ohio, I felt a huge sense of relief.
…that kind of popular movement in this country, even for donkey welfare.
But it was precisely for donkey welfare. The Democratic Party apparatchiks have now all got nice jobs again.