Post Election Day Thoughts

Boy do I feel great.

I don't think I have ever felt this way the day after a presidential election.

A sense of hope. And a sense of relief.

Maybe it is because change is in the air.

This was an historic election in many respects. Not only did we elect the first African American President, but voter turnout was at an all time high, and people across the country, no matter how they voted, seemed to really care this year.

Another exciting aspect yesterday was going the the polls with The Princess. She just turned 18 and this was her first time voting.

She came home Monday night from college so she could vote on Tuesday. At first I had encouraged her to get an absentee ballot, but now I am glad she came home and that we could to to the polls together.

We drove over to the Steelworkers Hall in Kellogg, where they consolidated all four Kellogg polling places this year, and found our table. LD, a family friend, really made a big deal of the fact this was The Princesses first time voting, and explained to her how the ballot worked.

Then Mrs. Jacobs asked her to state her name and address. She laughed and told her she looked too young to vote. Then The Princess signed in, received her ballot, and went to the booth. It was fun to hear our names announced at the end, after we had both cast our votes.

She was a bit surprised that it didn't take that long to vote.

I drove her back to Coeur d'Alene, and we talked a bit about the ballot. We chuckled a bit over the man who changed his name to "Pro Life". We thought that was a bit odd.

We went to Starbucks, and I got my free cup of coffee for voting. (She ordered an Espresso Truffle, which sounded really good, and I may have to get one tomorrow when I take Z2 to CDA for an appointment.)

I am one of those statistics the political reporters talk about. I have voted in every presidential election since 1984, and I believe I voted Republican each time.

But this year I switched. And I didn't just switch, I donated financially to Obama's campaign, and really was excited about him as a candidate.

Part of it was the candidate. I liked what he had to say on the majority of the issues, and believed in his plan to bring about change.

But part of it was a rejection of the past 8 years. I was disappointed in the Republican party, and their tactics, and how divided the country seemed.

And part of my problem was with the Christian right's tactics. Granted, both sides can be negative as they spin their message. But I don't think it is right to throw out fear tactics and misinformation in the name of Jesus Christ. To me there is a higher standard if you are claiming to be "speaking" for God. You had better be 100 percent sure the information you are sharing is 100 percent accurate.

I felt like my brothers and sisters in Christ, as they proclaimed they were brothers and sisters in Christ, weren't playing the "What Would Jesus Do?" game very well. I felt threatened and lied to at during this campaign. I was disappointed.

One blogger, E.A. Hanks, in her post titled "G.O.P. R.I.P.?" hit the nail on the head when she wrote,

"By going for Rove's GOP big guns, McCain wasted his last election by desperately reaching out to the most hardcore of the base: anti-gay rights, anti-environmental legislation, anti-black people vote. The campaign became about being against things and in a time that's so depressing it's hard enough to get out of bed as it is, people were turned off. Just like their heat and water! "

I know I was turned off.

That is why I was one of 64,974,540 people who voted for Barack Obama yesterday.

And, I think we need some change, and he is the President to move our country in the right direction.

Proverbs 21:1 always gives me great comfort,

The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD;
He turns it wherever He wishes.

because, regardless of what is going on, my faith believes that God is, and always will be, in control.