Is it cynical to be bummed about Obama's victory?
Last night watching the returns in a bar that insisted on tuning to CNN, the expert panel was running a circle jerk about the awesomeness of the occasion, and I’ve heard repeated at least a couple times now that you’d have to be really cynical to not feel pride at American’s “accomplishment”, that is to say, electing our first black president. Maybe it’s my bitter clinging to guns and religion, but I don’t feel any pride.
I know, failure to support The Messiah constitutes PC “racism”, but to my mind a real racist is someone who dislikes others based on race. I do not. I didn’t vote against Obama because he’s black. I voted against him because I disagree with nearly every policy position (or, more typically, implied policy position divined from his vague, soaring rhetoric) he has taken.
I already knew American had moved on from our racist past. I already knew a smart, hard-working black man could succeed in this country. I didn’t need to elect Obama to prove it to myself. So I’m not proud. I’m not happy. I’m not hopeful. I’m scared.
The fight for freedom against all forms of tyranny never ends, of course. It sure as hell didn’t end under Bush, and it would not have ended under McCain. But sometimes the fight feels like it’s going your way, and other times it doesn’t. This is one of those other times, and it sucks. If that makes me a cynic, then so be it.
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