Possumblog

I am not one to make predictions...

...but I feel pretty safe in making this one.

Should it happen that Americans elect a Democrat as President tomorrow, I can guarantee that when the new Administration moves in to the White House and various executive-branch offices, all of the computer keyboards will have their full complement of 'O' keys, and there won't be trash strewn all around, and things that belong to The People won't mysteriously disappear into staff briefcases as souvenirs, and in general the transition from R to D will be businesslike.

Businesslike, although not quite as efficient as the coordinated efforts made this year has been at encouraging the registration of fraudulent voters and assisting them in casting ballots, collecting fraudulent donations from all corners of the globe, and the effort by the press to bury its carcass in a steaming pile of irrelevance.

Gosh, I'm sure it'll all be worth it in the long run, right guys?

Right.

As for what will happen should the opposite situation occur, I can't quite say. Given the obstacles, it certainly would be quite a repudiation of the aforementioned influence of the ballot-box-stuffing/untraceable walking-around-money/yellow "journalism" troika, and I do certainly hope that it would come to pass. But when cheats lose, it's a bit much to expect them do so gracefully.

In any event, go and exercise your franchise tomorrow, and whether your choice wins or loses, please don't be an idjit. (And yes, I realize this is more difficult for a certain group of you.)

UPDATE 11/4/08: I went at lunch today and did my part to beat back the rising tide of Wobblies and Weathermen and their fellow-travelers.

I do have to say that it was pleasant for the most part, although the polling place was packed pretty tightly. After finding a parking place, the wait from first getting to the end of my line until I fed the ballot into the machine was thirty minutes, which is a bit longer than I remember it in the past. Then again, maybe not.

But in any event, it still felt like a good ol' American election--no screaming or hollering or thugs or mugs--just a bunch of folks standing around waiting and talking. I will say this, though, no matter what party it happens to be, people who are tightly-wound partisans are downright odd.

One early-middle-aged lady came out the doors after voting, dressed in a sharp bright red business suit, stilletos, little rectangular glasses, upswept brunette hair--yep, the full Palin. You could tell she was some sort of big-R Republican-type person and full of that odd chattiness that politicians and politician-wannabes affect, and she probably thought she was either a) being cutesy, b) being completely non-ironic in showing her devotion to the ideals of Sarah Palin, or c) this was the way she's always looked (not likely). But gee whiz--party loyalty's one thing, and dress-up is quite something else. It makes you seem about ten years old. And frankly, we've got enough childish people in politics.

And also frankly, she didn't quite pull off the look, either. Which offended me deeply.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this all turns out in four years.

Posted by Terry Oglesby at November 3, 2008 02:57 PM