the “A” word

i’m miles away from home. it’s morning here and the polls haven’t opened back home yet. i wonder how late i can stay awake tonight…

^{cross posted at Daily Kos and Wild Wild Left}

barack obama was not my first choice. in fact and in large measure, i’ve given up being a democrat.

i’ve complained loudly that our choices between the lesser of two evils is no choice, but a default created outside the citizenry. Those true citizens who could lead serve our country are tragically rare.

i’ve worried out loud about losing any edge we citizens have by burying ourselves too deeply in any one candidate or party. i think the bailout was another clear sign: those in washington, including the democrats, dug us deeper in a debtor’s hole. they have not grasped, it seems to me, the realities here… as i read stories about AIG’s misuse of gov’t loans and, surprise, CEOs and other execs are owed FORTY BILLION in back pay… and that bailout money is being hoarded by banks instead of stimulating the economy.

hell-fucking-o! and you know why this is? because no one is being held accountable. yeah.  the “A” word. ACCOUNTABILITY: the crescendo of these horrible and depraved eight years… but the powerful continue to do what they want because, in reality and truth, there are no consequences. just none.

further, our inability to force accountability perpetuates and sustains the divide among us imo.  

and i wonder how they’d feel about mccain if, immediately after 2006, the democrats forced karl rove and harriet myers to testify before congress…

i wonder how these mccain supporters would feel about the word socialist

if democrats in our government had pressed on with investigating outsourcing and how our tax dollars are being funneled into BushCo minions. like halliburton and blackwater et al…

if we had two years of another version of the story being told and retold…

^{hat/tip to Edger for this great vid}

so today, of all days, don’t forget how we got here. we will not heal or fix or restore this country without first forcing accountability. where ever it is… republican or democrat (i’m sure it’s both).

having said all that, i will concede this: i have been reading and listening to obama. i’ve been watching him. this man has got potential to rock our socks off.  i think he gets it: he has to give us the opportunity to let him. he truly has to make us his constituency. as i see him trying to do, for example, in the way he spoke about marriage. and the way in which he explained his views. the way in which he seemed to be grappling with the balancing act of secular head of state and real-person christian. i liked it alot in fact, even though i think gay marriage should be a civil right. his point-of-view and wrestle seemed really honest-to-god honest. and not like pandering. phew. except for the death penalty (obama is pro death penalty), he mostly reflects my views.

so i’ve decided to hope that this man, elegant, well-spoken, even-tempered, calm, thoughtful, is the real deal. today, i hope he is not the lesser of two evils, but just a human being as concerned about others and this planet as i know most of us are.

and i will be sure when, as president obama, he starts by demanding the Justice Department enforce Congressional subpoenas. . .