Reconciliation via bad arithmetic

From 52 to 48 with Love is three or so pages that shows Democratic voters (the 52) patch up things with their Republican counterparts (the 48) by holding up pieces of paper. The idea is to let the Red Staters know that they're not going to be ignored or mocked in the future. Examples are "Let's vow to be gentler, kinder and more understanding together", "one nation indivisible US", "dear 48, I will listen to you", and (eeewww) "dear 48, you complete me."

The spirit is admirable, but why do the page owners have to fib? It's really 53 versus 46, when you round to the nearest number. Is the extra 2 there to make the Republicans feel good about themselves? If so, it's a futile gesture; this kind of white lie inspires contempt from the "spite" voters. And why is there no reconciliation shown for the other 1 - the Libertarians and Greens? They deserve it more.

My message to the 48 46? No hard feelings, but what the fuck were you thinking? That's about as much as they deserve.

Remember, remember, the 4th of November...

Yes. Obama's going to win. Random guess: 350 electoral votes and 58 senators to the Democrats. Damn - I'm fascinated by the election - refreshing the browser every couple of minutes, and trying to chase down another link or two. Stop it. I tell myself. Most people are sleeping, and only two little hamlets in New Hampshire have got to vote . That's not literally true - there's been a lot of pre-poll and postal voting throughout the U.S. of A. But I still have to tell myself: stop chasing news that doesn't exist. Get some sleep. Hell, it's your wedding anniversary tomorrow - an early rise is in order. The results will be available soon enough.

So rather than procrastination and wasting time, I turn to writing to get my thoughts and emotions in order. What do my feelings tell me? Quiet relief - even contentment at the certainty of the outcome. No moments of ecstasy, no "Hallelujahs!" nor "Praise the Lord!", not even quiet weeping (common, I hear) at the sheer utter history inherent in the outcome. Perhaps a little wet-eyed when I heard that Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, had passed away on election eve. But that's just empathy; it would hurt, especially as she was as much surrogate mother as grandmother.

But at the end of the day, there have been other events in my life of greater priority and immediate import. My wife's surgery for endometriosis and other gynecological problems last Monday. (Successful, for now.) Australia's not-quite-a-perhaps-we-avoided-the-worst-of-a-full recession, at a time where I'm thinking "I should find a better job". My dissatisfaction with being a requirements analyst - a job work out what is required of software, when I feel could get paid more for writing the software itself. Finding that it's not so easy to get a programming job when you haven't done it for six years. Oh, fuck it - stop whinging - at least I have a job. I'm not in debt. I can even save a little. I can afford some magnanimity.

Good luck, Obama and good luck America. You're going to need every bit of it.