The Morning(s) After

The way I see it, they wanted a Culture War, and they lost it. Barack Obama's right. For a change, this is no time to gloat. The good guys have the advantage (not to mention the backing of the entire planet), so we should show the crackers who fell for the GOP flim-flam some mercy. Still, it was difficult to repress a brief cackle this morning on the Turnpike as I passed a beige Lincoln with about 13 American-flag decals on the trunk. "Drive off to cultural oblivion, Mr. Fat Fool!" (Sorry, couldn't help myself.)

Seriously, we don't have to fear the war-mongering, racist, homophobic, religious right today. If we let them participate in what happens next (without ever actually being put in charge of anything, please) their better natures will, I honestly believe, emerge. And they do have better natures; they've just been lied to and subverted for so long they forgot.

Kudos to my birth state of Pennsylvania. No big shock that Philly went 80% for Obama (which must be some sort of record), but even remote counties with names like Carbon, Wyoming, Luzerne, and Elk went blue.

For eight years, we've lived in fear of the tyranny of ignorance, and yesterday's voting proved that we're sick of it. After his 2004 loss, John Kerry lamely called for "healing," which, of course, was heard as "surrender." The empowered Darwin-haters pandered to by the Bush campaign were not about to meet us halfway. They had no will to. But we're smarter, right? And we can make peace now on our own terms.

There was a time when this country looked forward. Sometimes blindly so. Sometimes too arrogantly. But compared to the Stone Age prison of the W years, that was better. Glad to be back in America.