I hope you motherfuckers are right

slightofjeff

I recall reading a story in the days after the 2004 election about Vincent D'Onofrio, the "Law and Order" guy, and how he was so depressed about Bush's re-election that he couldn't even go into work for a month.

I thought, at the time, that was kind of an overemotional imbecile. I woke up this morning, however, kind of sympathizing with him -- and with the rest of you who figured four more years of Bush meant the end of the world as we knew it.

I'm not feeling quite as melodramatic as Vince was back in '04. Perhaps, since there's been a feel of inevitability about an Obama win for at least the past month, I'd grown used to the idea. It wasn't like I was blindsided.

However, I can say that, after this election of "hope" and "change:" The only thing that has changed is an increase in my hopelessness. As the father of a 2-month-old, I worry about what her world will be like for the next four (or eight) years.

I am worried Obama's extreme environmental policies are going to cause my gas and electric bills to skyrocket. Again, even if he doesn't raise my taxes ... well, this has the same net effect.

I am worried Obama's tax plans are going to cost my family money, if not directly (and simply allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire will cost me $4,000. without Obama lifting a finger) then indirectly. Even if he only overtaxes The Rich ... well, The Rich are the people who pay my salary and sell me groceries ... so, it still affects me.

I am worried Obama's I'm-okay, you're-okay foreign policy will take us back to a time when it was easy to terrorize on American soil. Say what you want about Bush -- and you have plenty of legitimate fodder -- the one thing he was good at, since 9/11, was keeping shit from blowing up on this side of the pond.

But, now, after all that, I get to my point. The incendiary nature of this thread title aside, I really mean it:

I hope you Obama motherfuckers are right. From the bottom of my heart, I hope that.

Unlike some folks, I don't think of politics as game, where my team needs to beat your team. Obama won the election. If he sucks, we're all losers. If he succeeds, we're all winners.

I want him to succeed. I need him to succeed.

So, I hope I am wrong about everything I believe. I hope the worldview under which I've existed for my entire life is shattered.

It's an odd feeling: I hope, sincerely, that everything I know is wrong. And that all you other motherfuckers are right.

Today, it's the only thing keeping me from pulling a D'Onofrio.