Swooning in a golf cart...
President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama. Not too shabby, America!
To be honest, I never fell under his spell the way so many people have. He's as tangled in and beholden to Beltway politics as any mainstream American politician, a lot of his platform is disappointingly wishy-washy centre-right (though I say this coming from a land where many of our "Conservatives" would probably be moderate Democrats), and he's really not all that experienced, which feels rather crucial when his reign is going to consist of tidying up one of the worst messes his country has been in. Goddamn if the United States didn't need Barack Obama right now, though. He's a calming voice in terrifying times, a rational intellectual in the aftermath of eight years of wrath and the celebration of ignorance, and a loud refutation of the American racial divide; most importantly, he's everything the current kleptocratic junta isn't. He's not the messiah the Democrats seem to see him as, but at least he's a proud stride in the right direction.
In watching the election coverage (mug of minty green tea in one hand, pen in the other, distractedly doing my usual spectrograph analysis and X-bar trees while live video streamed on my laptop), I wasn't sure whether to be more surprised by the utter routing the Democrats dished out (both houses, the popular vote, and the presidency? Now that's a mandate) or by the grace with which McCain took it. Had he been as eloquent and dignified throughout his campaign as he was during his concession speech, rather than turning into the contemptible, lie-spouting gila monster he became after securing the Republican candidacy, last night might have actually been a tight race. If the Republican kingmaking machine can make such an inelegant mess out of a good man and turn a noble maverick into a grotesque echo of the most corrupt presidency in recent memory, it's about time they take some time off.
And let's not even mention Sarah Palin.
As for Obama's acceptance speech, I'd put it on the same shelf as some of the classic speeches from Kennedy and FDR. I'm nowhere near Grant Park, and I still had goosebumps for the duration. If you can run a country like you can talk about running a country, Mister Obama, I think things will be okay.
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On a lighter, much more local note, I had a lovely Hallowe'en weekend in Guelph this year. Rebecca was kind enough to lend me a place to sleep, and thus I spent much of the weekend with her: dancing at the Underground in Hallowe'en outfits (serendipitously, I was supposed to be at the much-sleazier Palace upstairs with other friends, but couldn't get in, and probably had a better time downstairs anyway), hassling her housemates with guitar noises, and attending a very drunken screening of Rocky Horror (plus Truth or Dare Jenga!) at Kate's townhouse with Coach, Michael, and a host of others.* I saw tons of other old friends (Laura from the bus! Meg! Katie! Melissa! Potato! Sarah! Nate! Lauren! Others who will give me shit for forgetting them!), though, and was reminded painfully of how much I miss them all. I definitely need to come to Guelph more often this year.
My costume was a surprise hit, too; I decided the night before that going as xkcd 's blogging balloon-pilot version of Cory Doctorow was the best I could do at the last minute, but I was surprised by how many people picked up on it and enjoyed it. Rebecca's Kingdom of Loathing Disco Bandit outfit totally out-nerded me, though.
I returned to some rather crappy news here in Toronto, though: apparently my landlord just lost his shirt in the market crashes, he's got to sell the house to dig himself out of the hole, and whatever plans the new owner has, they do not include a student apartment in the basement. I've been served an eviction notice dated October 31, and the law gives me 60 days to get the hell out. Dammit, I liked this place. Here's hoping that I find a comparable lair in short order.
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*it needs to be recorded here: two beers and a jello shot is enough to
make Rebecca pitifully, incoherently, hilariously drunk, and we have
the pictures to prove it.
