Right here, RIGHT NOW.

[foxmonkey]

I hardly ever talk politics in my LJ, but this was pretty amazing and I'm smiling now hours later thinking about it, and I want to make sure I have it here so that this time next year I can look back and go...yeah.

I listened to the local NPR station (National Public Radio) on the way home this evening and caught a piece of one of those "what the everyday Joe thinks about the upcoming races" kinds of things. The radio was set to scan, and just as it started to hop to the next station, an elderly-sounding, heavily accented voice said, "I'm voting Obama."

Weh?

I popped back to the station and listened to the rest of the piece, and when I got home I pulled into my garage, lowered the door, turned off the engine but left the radio on.

Between homey bits describing the atmosphere of the Bloomer, Wisconsin pie shop they were in, the interviewer spoke to the employees and customers. Most of them sounded in the upper ranges of middle age, with a couple of truly elderly folks tossed in the mix, both men and women. They talked about Hillary and Obama and what a mess the Republicans had made of things, and what they thought -- and hoped -- the two Democratic candidates might bring to the table. The most amazing thing? Republicans, all of them. Also amazing, none of them wavered when asked, "You're a Republican and you're going to vote for a Democrat?"

Without sounding like a huge cheeseball, I can't accurately describe what it felt like listening to those interviews...though I admit I may have teared up just a teeny bit. :-)

One of the truly elderly folks, a man, said he might vote for Hillary, but he was still undecided because the "black boy" had a lot going on upstairs and he just might vote for him instead.

When this man first starting voting, would he have ever have thought a black man could even run for president? Would he ever have thought he'd be voting for that black man -- or a woman! -- for the highest office in the United States someday?

How many of those interviewed, if asked even twelve, eight, four years ago, would have thought they'd consider voting Democrat? And how many of them would ever have thought they'd vote for a woman? A black man?

When the piece was over I kept thinking about it while I walked up to the house, and I thought, this is one of those things that I really wasn't sure I'd ever see in my lifetime, but, yeah. In my lifetime. And that, my friends, is a pretty freakin' amazing thing. :-)

Sitting here thinking about typing this up, I thought about Right Here, Right Now, an oldie by Jesus Jones. The video for this tune featured footage of the Berlin Wall coming down. An oldie, but a goodie, and it sums up how I feel tonight.



Right Here, Right Now
Jesus Jones

A woman on the radio talked about revolution
When its already passed her by
Bob Dylan didnt have this to sing about
You know it feels good to be alive

I was alive and I waited, waited
I was alive and I waited for this
Right here, right now
There is no other place I want to be
Right here, right now
Watching the world wake up from history

I saw the decade in, when it seemed
The world could change at the blink of an eye
And if anything
Then theres your sign... of the times

I was alive and I waited, waited
I was alive and I waited for this
Right here, right now

I was alive and I waited, waited
I was alive and I waited for this
Right here, right now
There is no other place I want to be
Right here, right now
Watching the world wake up from history

Right here, right now
There is no other place I want to be
Right here, right now
Watching the world wake up from history

Right here, right now
There is no other place I want to be
Right here, right now
Watching the world wake up...

Comments

[stoplookingup.livejournal.com]

It IS pretty amazing. The first election I was old enough to vote in, Ronald Reagan was elected. Needless to say, I didn't vote for him. It's been hell ever since.

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

It IS pretty amazing.

And I love that either way the nomination goes, it'll be historic. :-D


The first election I was old enough to vote in, Ronald Reagan was elected. Needless to say, I didn't vote for him. It's been hell ever since.

Aiiiiii! Yeah, needless to say, I didn't vote for Reagan either. ;-p

[babygotbass.livejournal.com]

Fox! This election is going to be amazing for so many reasons. SO MANY! It is challenging ideas so many people thought they had, and hopefully it will lead to a larger challenge for everyone - how can we really bring change to this country and the world.

Obama makes is seem possible. Somehow he makes it seem like things can change. I like this feeling. A lot.

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

It is challenging ideas so many people thought they had

And *that's* what's was so fascinating about the interviews. Life-long Republicans, voting across party lines, quite possibly making history by voting in the first black/female President of the United States.

EEEEEEEEEEE! I got chills typing that. :-D


Somehow he makes it seem like things can change. I like this feeling. A lot.

OH MY GOD, so do I. :-)

[withdiamonds.livejournal.com]

It's all pretty damn amazing. Things are exciting in a way they haven't been in a very long time. Who would have thought we'd be choosing between a woman and a black man? Amazing.

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

Who would have thought we'd be choosing between a woman and a black man? Amazing.

Isn't it? And it's SO cool that either way it goes, it'll be historic. :-D Now I'm feeling all charged up, like I ought to volunteer for someone's campaign! ;-)

Oooh, love your sparkly icon. :-)

[tazlet.livejournal.com]

Or, call the Board of Elections and become an election judge--the process needs good people to make it work.

[significantowl.livejournal.com]

gosh yes. You know, I teach elementary school, and we're doing President's Day right now, and to be able to talk with my kids (75% minority) and actually point to that woman running for president, that African-American running for president, rather than to just talk in hypotheticals about how really, no really, it's open to anyone born here... so amazing.