Celebration and Heartbreak

The Morning After. The last 16 hours have been a rollercoaster ride. The election of Barack Obama is indeed cause for celebration - a much-needed turning of the page, a tremendous relief, a huge shift in the consciousness of the American psyche. At the same time, in a heartbreaking result, millions of California residents deemed it necessary to knock millions more into second class citizenry.

CELEBRATION.

The crowds that gathered in the streets of Chicago, New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, and many other cities throughout our great nation, including a healthy crowd outside the White House, recalled those final scenes in "Return of the Jedi" where galaxy-wide celebrations ensued as the old evil empire was soundly defeated by the strong young leader of the progressive opposition. After eight long, dark years of leadership that was lawless, reckless, and incompetent, the voters of America, in record numbers and with hopeful hearts, cast their ballots in this election and said "enough!"

Barack Obama's victory was tremendous. Some facts:

The first black president hails from Illinois, the home of President Abraham Lincoln, the author of the Emancipation Proclamation.

His victory in Virginia is especially sweet. The capitol of the former confederacy voted for a black candidate. That is history of tremendous proportions in and of itself.

Florida, another state of the old confederacy, is in Obama's column.

North Carolina, again...a confederate state...is still too close to call but Obama is leading there by about 11,000 votes.

Obama won Virginia and Indiana - those two states haven't gone Democratic in a presidential election since 1964.

Obama's 52% of the popular vote is the best showing for a Democrat in a presidential election since 1964, and is the best showing for any president of either party since 1988.

As of 8:30am PT, Obama is closing in on 63 million votes nation wide. There are several million more votes yet to be tallied, but already, with those 63 million, Obama has won more popular votes than any president in our history.

Arizona and conservatism, full circle: The modern conservative movement began with the crushing defeat of Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election. That same conservative movement ends with the crushing defeat of Arizona Sen. John McCain - who holds Goldwater's seat in the Senate - in the 2008 presidential election.

But now the work of governing begins. The minute he takes the oath of office on January 20th, Barack Obama will have his work cut out for him. The pile of wreckage the Bush administration will leave behind is bound to take several years to clean up. As such, President-elect Obama needs to name his key cabinet members before the end of this week. His choices for State, Defense, Treasury, Justice, and U.N. need to be named ASAP so that the preliminary work can be done to start confirmation hearings in the new Senate as soon as that body is seated in early January. The lower cabinet and sub-cabinet posts need to be named before Thanksgiving.

If the management of his campaign is any indication, I am certain that President Obama (LOVE the sound of that!) will be ready to go at Noon on January 20th.

HEARTBREAK.

I couldn't be more disappointed in my fellow Californians. They went to their polling places yesterday to make sure barnyard animals were protected under state law, yet, in a move that can only be described as abhorrent and vile, they moved down the ballot and sucker-punched millions of fellow citizens - fellow HUMAN BEINGS - in the gut, essentially classifying them as second class citizens by writing discrimination into the State Constitution.

Let me be clear: This will not stand. We will fight to overturn this with every fiber of our beings. It may take several years and it may take millions of dollars, but the tide is our side. Eventually, we will be equal.

What floors me about this result is that it comes mostly at the hands of minority voters. Asians and African-Americans were overwhelmingly FOR something that only a few decades ago stripped them of the very same rights they denied us yesterday. The bigotry and hypocrisy are unbelievable.

But just as those groups were able to fight their way out of that forest of bigotry and hypocrisy, I believe my gay brothers and sisters will do the same. 2008 may not have been the time to do it, but despite last night's results, the dominoes are falling, little by little the wall is being chipped away, we will prevail.

A heartfelt shout out to everyone who gave money to the cause, and an especially large shout out to those who stepped up to the plate, giving their time, their sweat, and their tears: Trevor, Larry, Don, Mark, and thousands of others...you've done us proud. And to Janet and Mike - for risking reputation (and quite possibly a limb or two) by putting those "No on 8" bumper stickers on your cars and doing your part to drown out the "Yes on 8" bigots right there in the middle of ultra-fascist Placer County.

What's done is done. But now we do as our new Vice-President so eloquently spoke of from the campaign trail: We pick ourselves up, we brush ourselves off, and we keep going.

I'll conclude with Andrew Sullivan, our staunchest advocate on this issue, as always, eloquent in the face of defeat:

So we get back to work, arguing, talking. speaking, debating, writing, blogging, and struggling to change more minds. The hope for equality can never be extinguished, however hard our opponents try. And in the unlikely history of America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Amen, my brother...Amen.

The key here is not to let the passage of Prop 8 squelch the hope and joy we all feel today at the election of Barack Obama. The historic win in the presidential contest positions our country for tremendous change. And we need to use the new President's victory as the launching pad for a renewed fight.

UPDATE: Another shout out to Laura, my sister-in-law (no matter WHAT the state constitution now says), who passed an email plea from me around to friends and neighbors.