I have never stayed up past 2 AM on an election night. I’m not sure that what I was doing could be called “staying up” either. I ended up turning the TV toward my position in bed so that I could close my eyes without the concurrent danger of falling out of a chair.

I had actually fallen into a rather deep sleep while reading and listening at the same time. Due to a bit of earlier imbibing, my system needed a bathroom break and, as is usual, I woke up to take care of that duty and noticed quite a celebration going on in Chicago. It couldn’t mean but one thing.

I actually felt the President would win this election, but I didn’t think it would be determined in one day. Poor Carl Rove, even after everyone else was conceding the results, and while strangling on his own hubris, held out until the floor just fell out from under him. One would expect that he would just fade away, but his “kind” never get that message. The man spent, as it is said, multiplied millions of other peoples – read corporate – money (thanks to the Supremes) to spread lies and distortions which have worked their dark magic in the past and did not this time. I wish we as a nation could get past this childish tactic.

But to move on, we can only hope that comments Republican leadership have made which seem to embrace a dirty tricks philosophy will turn out to be TV rhetoric and not a plan for sabotage. Mitch McConnell is on record, for instance, saying that if Obama wins this election, the Republicans will make it impossible for him to govern. They actually tried that tactic and I believe the nation is tired of it. This country wants movement in Washington. Not a my-way-or-the-highway kind of political strategy.

Anyway, that’s my two cents. I am ecstatic about four more years of a truly good man in the White House who believes that government is for the people and if those needs are met then everything else works. Be well, and stay tuned.

Jerry Henderson