Post Election Haiku (with blog)

Got some good changes,
but they came with some bad ones.
One fight's not over.

As I mentioned in a previous entry, I went ahead and voted for Obama. There might be some of you out there saying, "But you said that you wouldn't!" That's true. I did say that for quite some time, and I absolutely meant it when I said it. As I wrote in the aforementioned previous entry, my disgust at some of the Republican campaign techniques, and the sheer lunacy of having Palin as our Vice President, pushed me over the edge, and I had to give my vote to Obama.

So, the guy I voted for won. He doesn't represent everything that I stand for, but at least he has some good things going for him. More on him later though.

Regarding the other things that were important to me, Gary Eberhart and Sherry Whitmarsh won the Mt. Diablo School Board positions, and April Treece is out (which is exactly what I wanted). This one was an odd situation, as it's no doubt the one that affects me directly the most, but it's one that I was unable to have my vote, since I don't live within the district where I work. I figure that I did my part by blogging about it, letting some people know, and holding up a sign along a busy Concord street.

There are some other issues. I voted yes on the animal treatment one, mainly because I believe that if an animal is treated well, then it will taste better.

Oh, and then there's that Prop 8 thing. While there are some on my side who are still holding out hope while the results come in, it looks like I lost on this one. Two things make me feel better though. One is the knowledge that this isn't over, and it's only a matter of time when there'll be enough support to once again amend the Constitution. The other is that even though I may have acted somewhat immaturely and irresponsibly on the day of the No on 8 Demonstration (which I was suitably chastised for by a commenter on my Blogspot blog), at least I didn't have to resort to telling lies to make my case. In fact, nobody on the No on 8 side had to tell lies. All of the misinformation was coming from the Yes side, so the moral victory is ours.

As for Obama, my prediction is that amongst some right-wing pundits, he will never be able to do anything right - even if he parachutes into Pakistan and single-handidly takes out Osama bin Laden, they'll still find fault in it. Likewise, the true believers will find no fault with him and support every move he makes. I'll probably wind up supporting a lot but opposing other stuff. I'll try to keep and open mind.

The thing is though, I feel good when I hear him speak. While that's a stupid and ignorant reason to vote for a guy, I'd be lying if I said that it wasn't important at all. The President represents my country. I don't want some guy who can barely utter a sentence without a malopropism of some sort. I don't want somebody who doesn't seem to know what the hell the VP's job is. I want somebody who sounds like he's smarter than me.

Roger Ebert recently wrote an article where he said that when you don't bother to speak correctly, you are showing a lack of respect for your audience. That's exactly how I've always felt with Bush. He didn't speak well because he couldn't be bothered to speak well. There was an obvious contempt in his voice, and even when he was speaking decently, he would talk down to us with lines like, "Look, I'm the decider."

Like I already pointed out, it's hardly the most important thing. After all, Hitler was awfully good at making speeches, and from what I understand, he was a bit of an asshole. Still, I will be so bold as to say while it might not be the most important thing, it is an important thing.