I voted before I left for work, making sure I had my registration card and driver’s license. My polling place (the basketball court of the local Catholic school) wasn’t crowded but it looked like a steady trickle in and out.
I’m such a politics geek; I love to vote. It reminds me how much better we can be as a group than as individuals, even with all our flaws - and our flawed candidates. (Even the Declaration of Independence, as noble a document as there ever was, said nothing about the sins of slavery. Another political compromise, one of many to follow.) People died for this right, damn it, and I’m gonna use it.
After I voted, I was talking to the Democratic poll workers. “What’s the turnout like so far?” I said. Not bad, they said.
They told me the big lines would be tonight, and one lady said she couldn’t wait to see how Hillary had done. “I hope she does good,” she said. “She’s a hard worker, she deserves it. In this neighborhood, I know she’s gonna win.”
The other one chimed in. “Me and my husband did very well under the Clintons, and don’t let anybody tell you any different, she was running the country then,” she said. They both laughed.
“And besides, I don’t know anything about Barack Obama,” the first lady said.
In Philadelphia, this is always an issue and while I won’t deny that race is a factor, this sense of “not knowing” someone is probably a bigger factor. (Remember, we’ve elected several black mayors, mostly with substantial white support.)
As my out-of-town friends love to remind me, Philadelphia is the only place in the country where, when people ask where you went to school, they mean your grade school. They want to know your neighborhood, they want to know who your people are. “Who do you know that I might know?” As soon as you figure out who or what you both have in common, you see the tension release.
Obama hasn’t been around that long. People here don’t have a clear sense of who he is, because he hasn’t been in the spotlight all that long. The Clintons? They see them as family. Yeah, Bill might be the bastard brother-in-law who cheats on your sister, but blood is blood, as we say in South Philly. And Hillary’s that nice neighbor who organized all the casseroles so you wouldn’t have to cook when your mother died.
Anyway, back to being a politics geek. I have to admit that, walking back to my car, it struck me: I may have just voted for the first female president of the United States. And yes, I teared up a little. (Okay, a lot.)
I know many of the people who vote for Obama today will have a similar feeling, and I don’t begrudge them, not even a little bit. Isn’t it wonderful to be a part of something so historic?
yeah, i love voting. whenever i read about vote-by-mail systems in oregon or whatever, i can see some advantages to the system. but those people are missing out on the feeling of walking into a polling place and voting in person. when i was in college i voted absentee, essentially a vote by mail. it felt like filling out any other form. you just can’t beat the in-person vote feeling.
always feels good to vote…reality a day later is that you voted for a politician and the day before you felt like it would make a difference.
I must be stepping up to carry the torch. My parents were involved in politics. I remember being in gym in grade school and seeing my dad come in to vote. He was always so handsome, in his wing-tips and good suit and shirt and tie (his regular work clothes - court reporter). I was always glad to see him and proud of him, and that motivates me in part to carry on. We won’t talk about John Birch and Barry Goldwater, and all that other stuff.
I didn’t get to vote this morning cause I leave for work too early, cannot wait to get home and do it this afternoon.
no matter who wins the primary, the best part of all this is going to be 1-20-09!!!!
Voting’s fun. It couldn’t be more convenient for me, since my polling place is right outside my subway stop. And it still has those big voting machines with the levers and the big red handle.
Though I screw up the handle business every. single. time.
You’re all romantics, and I love you for it.
In Hawai’i it’s high school. Meet someone for the first time and the second or third question will be “Where you wen’ grad?” Puts those of us who got here in their later years at a disadvantage.
I’ve voted in every election since I turned 18. My first presidential vote was for McGovern. I’ve passed along to my kids that voting is NOT an option, it’s an obligation.
As far as this historic moment in the American body politic, yes it is. And if I wasn’t insane mad to get rid of the crime family currently in office, I’d probably stop and ponder its significance. I’ll cry when we put a democrat in the white house and more in the congress and I can begin to hope for my country’s restoration.