P-O-L-I-T-I-C-S

sing it to the tune of glamorous by fergie. It's missing a letter, but it still works ;)

sooo, now that the election is over and everyone has voted (right? you did vote - didn't you!?) we can get back to business as usual.

But my life will never be the same.

This election rocked me and then it rolled me. It all started the night of the VP debate when I was picking a client up at the airport. CNN constantly rolls across the TV screens from terminal to terminal, and usually there will be a few people watching while most others simply read their paper or catch up on their laptops. This night was a completely different scene. As I was walking towards my gate I noticed that everyone was glued to the TV. EVERYONE. I thought something had happened. I had a brief flashback to 9-11. Then I saw that it was the debate and I remembered the Palin factor.

I was in the airport when they announced that Obama had won the democratic nomination over Clinton. I knew it was big news but really didn't care. I had always been a republican voter so I really didn't care who the democratic nominee was. I was in the office the day McCain announced Palin as his running mate. My manager sat in her office for a good hour or so watching the news on her computer with the speakers turned way up. It sparked my interest that he had picked a woman, but I didn't think much more about it. Then the media blitz began. Because part of my job is escorting clients to medical appointments, I am constantly given the choice of reading the latest issue of Time, People, Newsweek, etc. I was shocked one day to see that nearly every magazine on the rack featured a cover with either McCain or Palin. Before this it had been Obama Obama Obama.

So, back to the airport story - there I was watching the VP debate realizing that this was a really big deal. Here was Sarah Palin for the country to see and hear for themselves. And - well - I have to say it . . . I wasn't impressed. I found myself liking Biden's answers much more than Palin's answers. I found myself liking him as a person more than Palin. I didn't get to stay for the whole debate - I probably only saw 15 or 20 minutes of it that night - but suddenly it occured to me that I had a decision to make and I had better start doing my homework.

So I immersed myself in it all. I searched for a book that could tell me about both candidates without feeding be bias, but of course no such book exists. Around this same time I read and enjoyed reading Becca's post concerning the same topic. I watched the second and third presidential debates and was a little surprised by how much temperament meant to me. I eventually bought a book by McCain and a book by Obama. If I couldn't read something unbiased, then I could at least read what they had to say for themselves. As I read and watched and learned as much as I could, I found myself leaning towards Obama - which was a very difficult stance for me to take. The only reason it was difficult is because I - like so many others - had been told in one way, shape, or form that Obama was a wolf in Sheep's clothing. I had been told that he should be feared. Every single one of my co-workers is scared of him and the plans he has for America. My family - while they may not vocalize their feelings as often as others - all seemed to feel the same way. I was bombarded on facebook by friends constantly using their status to say why Obama would be a bad choice. As the days inched closer to the election, it got really old really fast.

I really feel that one of the greatest mistakes McCain made in his campaign was that he told the American people over and over again what he was NOT going to do. He told us "Obama will do this, I won't". Unfortunately both campaigns used tactics to try and scare people away from the opposing candidate - and that just caused a lot of confusion and a lot of people (myself included) to fall into the "undecided" category. When I walked up to the voting booth Tuesday morning and I touched my finger to that screen, my brain was racing. I was quite literally on the brink of tears from the sheer pressure that I felt in making such a difficult decision. And even worse is the fact that I had spent so much time deliberating over the presidential ticket that I hadn't given the time and study that I should have to the local people and issues - and overall I believe that local politics deserve much more of our attention than the white house.

But, I cast my vote - and I almost went back and changed it - twice - while I stood at that booth and pushed "next" over and over again.

I am quite happy and at peace with the decision that I made in the end though. I was greatly impressed by both men's speeches on election night. I really feel like the president elect will be able to act as a tremendous leader for our country if we will only let him - and I hope that Senator McCain will continue to lend his immense knowledge and experience to the bettering of our country. I hope that Sarah Palin can go back to doing what she was excelling at before the American Media swallowed her whole. And I hope more than anything that we can unite as a nation and do all we can to respect our elected leaders. We are America. Let's not lose sight of the fact that we have the freedom to live our lives almost any way we choose. What a blessing that freedom is . . . may we never forget how blessed we are to be citizens of this great country.

oh - and ps - I really really hope that SNL doesn't insist that Tina Fey do too many more Palin impressions. There are some things that are best enjoyed in small quantities. What she has done is comedy gold and I'd hate to see it get old or overdone. I love it too much :)