Wordcruncher

Is it Mourning or Morning?

The day after such a devastating loss, it is difficult to feel optimistic or positive. The margin of Mr. Bush’s popular vote, coupled with the devastating losses in the Senate and the House equals (and I may regret saying this someday soon) while not a landslide, at least a mandate for the Republican agenda.

Yet, somehow, I do feel optimistic and positive. I am proud of our candidate. We knew he’d be slimed, but he kept to the high road and fought admirably. I also feel good because I do believe so deeply in our cause, and no political loss will ever change that. We did fight the good fight.

Maybe this feeling also can be explained by the fact that, at long last, there’s no way Republicans can blame liberals and Clinton for things gone wrong. Or perhaps it’s a general feeling that, sooner or later, scandal and corruption will catch up to this administration.

But I think it has more to do with what liberals/progressives accomplished in so little time. It was just a few months ago that Mr. Bush was expected to win in a landslide – he had a seemingly-unassailable 70 percent approval rating.

We now have an infrastructure – through blogs, online campaign contributions, Air America Radio and sites like Salon and Media Matters – that can influence an election. It did take the republicans a long time to reach their current status. We’ve a way to go yet.

I thought about not reading or writing about politics after Election Day (regardless of outcome). But if anything, I feel the urge more strongly. We’ll see if that wanes in the coming days, but I still feel energized – even as we’ve been seemingly marginalized for the rest of our natural lives.

We’re in the wilderness. And right now – I want to be, as that infamous left-wing wacko Jerry Brown once said – “A lone, weird voice in the wilderness.”