Yes We Did

In "Jurassic Park," Chaos Theory expert Ian Malcolm warns repeatedly of the dangers of the dinosaur filled theme park (though I'm not sure why one would need a Chaos Theory spewing mathematician to tell you that a park with hungry cloned dinosaurs set loose in the modern world for the first time in 65 million years could be dangerous... it seems like it would be pretty obvious.) When all hell breaks loose, Malcolm says "Boy, do I hate being right all the time."

Last night I got to reverse that cliched bit of dialogue when I said "Boy, do I love being wrong all the time (in terms of this crazy election cycle.)"

I voted for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries. I was too cynical to really believe in the hype surrounding Obama. I didn't think Obama had a shot at winning the presidency. He was too young and new. America is just not ready to elect a black man. He's not going to be able to fight back against the Republican election machine. Only the Clintons know how to beat the GOP in the modern era. He needs to fight back after McCain starting getting nasty in the campaign or he's going to look spineless and lose. His middle name is Hussein and that's going to scare people. His first name rhymes with Osama and that's going to scare people. He's going to gain the support of young hipsters, but older voters will not be moved by his message. He needs to stop saying McCain is an honorable American all the time, because McCain would never say the same thing about him. People are too cynical to buy into his message of hope. The youth vote is going to lose their passion for the guy and not come out to vote.

These are all the things I thought and feared.

But instead Obama stuck to his guns, ran a disciplined, on message campaign, never lost his cool, and never lost focus. He ran a campaign aimed at inspiring people and appealing to their hopes and dreams instead of their cynical side. And now he's made history, becoming the first black man elected to the highest office of the land. After eight long years of lies, wars, natural disasters, a growing national deficit, and a lowering standing in the eyes of the world, Barack Obama has been elected president of the United States of America by offering people hope and the possibility of change. For one night, at least, I was able to drop my cynicism and actually believe in something good happening in America.

It's nice to be wrong, sometimes.