Ohm-bama

How's this for zen? I have been awake all night because of something that happened Thursday morning. Fretting, seething, gnashing my teeth. Then, I thought all of a sudden that Obama must feel just like this when the republicans throw out their nonsense and he can't fight back without lowering to their level and just not wanting to go there. And...epiphany music please...I have decided to be Obama. And the knots in my stomach loosened up, my shoulders came down from my ears, I realized how sore my jaw is from clenching. Aahhh....one more thing to be glad about Obama for. Personal inspiration.

"Those are the people, Democrats and Republicans, who have shaped my ideas and who will be surrounding me in the White House. And I think the fact that this has become such an important part of your campaign, Sen. McCain, says more about your campaign than it says about me."

Here's the downlow...there is a parent, and I am not being snippy by saying this chick is certifiable, she is really off the road, and god help me she HATES me from last year. The last half of the year was a minefield! So this year, of course, I have her again for 1/3 of my day. There was a minor kerfuffle a little bit ago, but my principal ran interference and I got to just roll my eyes and think, Here we go again. So yesterday, at 8:25...yes, that IS first bell when I'm in charge of 25 maniac 10 year olds, she and her divorced husband come in and say, "Can we talk to you?" My first instinct is, "Let's go into the principal's office" since I have a practicum student who will lead class and I desperately want a witness except that my principal is out of the building. Next best thing, the spare room next door which connects to the room of a friend who is the TIC so I figure if I really need help I can shriek for her. Anyway, we go over and they proceed to tell me how displeased they are with me as a teacher, a human being and a waste of atoms. Apparently, I have irrevocably damaged their daughter by mocking her brother from last year as a failure in front of this year's class and calling her a cheater and a liar. I will be expected to let her remain in her home room and customize assignments so she won't have to breathe the same air as me and not let her grade suffer because I am such a rotten example of humanity. I'm paraphrasing a bit. So the way I talk these people down is by kissing their asses, smiling and nodding through this, repeatedly mentally reminding myself of the shit storm I brought on myself last year by actually telling the truth, and agreeing with everything, even the line, "What you actually said is irrelevant. What she thinks she heard is her reality." Yes, yes, of course that's true. I'm gripping a chair leg so tightly that my fingers ache and my friend comes in and checks that everything is ok? Yes, yes, we're just having a discussion, everything is fine. Upshot is that they leave happy, I am allowed to be graced with the presence of the daughter during class time, and I get a big hug and "Let's keep the lines of communication open" from the psycho.
So all day I've been raging internally about how unfair it is that no matter what the truth is, there is no way these people will hear it and they will cling to their perception regardless of the facts. Why isn't there some existential hammer that slams down on people and says, Dude...you are wrong. Here are your consequences. I would be more than willing to risk participating in that system because, regardless of what you may think of me ;) I WANT to know if I'm wrong! I WANT to know what is actually and indisputably true. Why can't truth be an absolute? Then my 2 am epiphany kicked in. Obama faces this every day. No matter how many he times he puts the real facts out there, they will repeat their blatant lies and smirk and salute the flag and call themselves christians and the "real" Americans. Like him, all I can do is calmly state facts and stay above the fray. Let them eat themselves from the inside out. When they implode, my hands will be clean and it will no longer be my problem. God have mercy on my soul!

Oohh....addendum....putting my problems in perspective: Trueby just stumbled out clutching her blanket and looking for company after a nightmare. "What did you dream about, sweetie?" "Mean farmers. I was a cow and they didn't kill me but they killed my cow friends." Poor thing. She's tucked in with Daddy, becoming a vegetarian as I type!

oh my god

Now look how Obama has raised my hopes. Check out the last one, I laughed instead of tried to stab the monitor. I actually feel sorry for the guy. Obama should be bottled and sold as one of those old-fashioned cure-alls. Anyone who can make me feel pity for Bush deserves to win.
And the topper:

A point to ponder

I'm gonna have to go with the second one. I recently read "Just How Stupid Are We?" about the American voter, and apparently the answer is "Very." Note the capital v. Like really really really stupid. Partly uninformed, partly under-educated, a little bit lied to, but mostly just really really really stupid. Welcome to the world, my little daughter. Best of luck to you.

So I read this article in The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/opinion/28rich.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

I'm noticing that journalists are getting less and less gentle about calling McCain an ass. It used to be very cloaked, and try to preserve fairness, and be respectful, but more and more articles are calling him crazy, inept, and preposterous. This one sounds so professional and yet so angry. I admire the tone the author was able to strike. I just go on a rant, this guy was able to make calm reasonable points while saying McCain has sold out his country. Awesome. Look at this one too http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erica-jong/not-that-stupid-erica-jon_b_126184.html
People are angry, and expressing it. I love it. Now all we have to do is sit back and watch the campaign eat itself from the inside. It was so sad watching him at the end of the convention. I don't mean that snarkily at all, it really made me sad. "Stand up and fight with me! Stand up and fight with me!" It was like a tired old man talking about what he used to be known for. Like an honorary diploma or something hollow like that. If he had been making that call 18 months ago, it would have meant something, but now he's become the caricature of everything he was calling to fight against. It felt like the one glimpse of his real self that night, only it was so false in its empty promise. It honestly makes me sad to think of it.
Then there's the other guy. I swear, when he's talking, I just want him to keep going. I feel like he knows what he's doing, like he has a plan. Like he will listen to other people and hear what they say and take it into consideration. Like he knows he is in a really tough spot and is trying to figure the way out. I was listening to the radio today and they were talking about the economy. A senator who is working on the bailout was being interviewed and they asked how the next president was going to be affected by it all. He answered for a little bit and was in the middle of a sentence, "Well, they aren't going to invade their way out of it....well. I don't want to say that. If the same team is in power next year, who knows what they will do." He didn't sound at all like he was being sarcastic. Like he seriously thinks these guys might try to war their way out of it! Jesus fucking christ on a bicycle.

So I kinda have a crush on Obama. I don't know if it's just too overwhelming to not want to scream and throw things at the TV whenever anything presidential is going on, or maybe it's the huge-ass grin that just calls to me, "I'm actually a good guy," or it just may be the feeling that hey, not only can the world be better, but I can be better. When was the last time you felt like that? I don't mean in the way I usually do, which is "Oh crap. I am so going to hell." Just how long has it been since I admired a politician? I was way behind Al, but things were going along pretty well and it was hard to imagine then how terribly things would go wrong. In retrospect I'm all about Al, but I don't know if he counts now. I LOVE Bill, but I don't know I can say I admire him. I think he did/is doing great things (if you don't pay attention to him wigging out during the last bit of Hillary's campaign...what the hell was that about?), but come on...I'd love to have that guy as your smarmy buddy who's always in some kind of unsavory scrape, not as a role model! I think Obama needs to be elected for that reason if for no other. People are thinking, "I can do something. I need to pay attention." That's a feat in itself. It is entirely possible I'm just another naive sucker being taken in by a snake only out for self-aggrandizement. However, genuine or not (and I think it is), I've been inspired. How can that not be a good thing?