Back to Being Serious

Now that the election is over -- except for a few obligatory attempts to disenfranchise the 52% of the electorate who voted for Obama -- it's time to look ahead.

Number one, I'm sure the Secret Service is going to have additional agents assigned to Obama's detail. After all, they now have to worry about not just the usual loonies who want to kill a president, but also the disgruntled rednecks who "cain't beleeve we done elected a nigra." And unfortunately, these rednecks don't just live in the south. Here in central Maine, I ran into a guy who said the country "couldn't afford a n****r in the White House." Central Maine, mind you, not Alabama or Tennessee. I have said it before and I'll say it again: the Secret Service is the premier executive protection agency on Earth, and they've probably been planning for this since Obama formed his exploratory committee.

Second, the Christianists*, Dominionists, and other fundie wingnuts have lost this opportunity to have one of their own in the line of succession. That doesn't mean, however, that they're going to fade back into obscurity. The Dobsons, Falwells, and their ilk will continue to poison American discourse with their perverted views of Christianity; we must not miss a single opportunity to point out that -- despite their claims -- they do not represent this country.

Third, it will be very interesting to see what kind of surprises Cheney and bush may have planned for the country between now and January 20. Yes, Commander Codpiece called President-elect Obama (Lord, how that must stick in his craw!) to congratulate him, but I still don't trust Biggus Dickus or dim son as far as I could throw them.

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On a more pleasant topic, I saw a clip last night from WDIV TV in Detroit, showing the line at one polling location: the line came out the door, wrapped around the block, and had a start on a second wrap. This, from a city that has had low turnouts the last few elections.

Here in Maine, the Secretary of State reports turnout may exceed 80% - a record for the state.

And it appears that turnout may hit record levels in many, many locations -- a testament to the importance of this election, and to the effectiveness of Obama's GOTV efforts.

And this just in from WCSH TV in Portland: a referendum to allow a casino (with a legally-mandated 10-year monopoly) had been defeated. The bill would have lowered the gambling age from 21 to 19, in addition to the non-compete provision. It needed to fail, and it did.

Oh, and for those who don't keep track of these things, there are now NO Rethuglicans in any New England US House delegation. The last one, Chris Shays of CT, was defeated.


*Christianists as opposed to Christians, of course.