AN UNEASY BIRTHDAY

November 6th, 2008 | by thebeerdoctor

The end of October and the beginning of November has always been a special time for me. Being born on All Saints Day, there has always been that morning after tie-in with Halloween. Never was this more acutely felt as in 1963, when on my way to school I saw the jack-o-lanterns set out for Friday’s garbage and became sad, until I realized it was also my birthday.

Years later I became aware of Malcolm Lowry’s novel Under The Volcano, which fictionally takes place on November 1, 1938. Add to that, the Day of the Dead, the Mayan Day of the Dead, Samhain Day, etc., and this period of time becomes rather personally significant. But never has this holiday period been under such pressure as that being generated this presidential election year.

It really does not matter that the Democratic candidate is really a centrist, non-ideological person. The fact that he is a man with a permanent tan… and that sadly, is what all the damn fuss is about.

Republicans especially, but independents also, will not admit that their trouble with Barack Obama is not because he is a radical child of the sixties (he most certainly is not), or that they just do not know him well enough. Which is particularly strange, because many of the people who got on board the runaway train known as George W. Bush, knew very little about him, except he seemed to relish his mandate from the state of Texas to enforce the death penalty. Oh and yes, his daddy is a former President. No, the real problem many have with Senator Obama is the realization that there is going to be a brother in charge. A national civic moment that finally says, it doesn’t matter what a person’s background is, what matters now is can they do the job or not.

Halloween night was unusually different. Senator Hillary Clinton appeared that day at a get-out-the-vote Obama rally, four and a half blocks from my house. The local neighborhood is clearly in the tank for Barry O. A McCain/Palin sign here is considered an aberration, usually posted by someone who is worried about their guns, or their lawn, or both. There is also the occasional right-to-life warrior. An issue driven concern for fetuses that is greater than actual babies being murdered in our far away wars. Folks of this persuasion will not even consider the notion that the best way to prevent abortions is to avoid circumstances which require their consideration. But that would involve sexual education, contraceptives and such. This is the real kicker: many anti-abortion advocates do not want anyone using contraceptives. Consider the Governor of Alaska’s inflexible position on this issue. It is not all surprising that her daughter finds herself with bump.

The uneasiness about the election makes many people nervous. Adding to this are the divisive remarks from Governor Palin, who seems hell bent on convincing the electorate that Senator Obama is a card carrying fellow traveler of terrorists. It quickly becomes apparent what the Republicans are up to. Unable to gloss over the mismanagement and incompetence of the Bush years, they choose to divert attention away by constructing a false, social-cultural war. Of course the McCain/Palin campaign claim nothing of the sort. Despite the fact that Mrs. Palin chose to quote Westbrook Pegler, a bona fide American fascist, during her infamous GOP convention speech. Later, when a few people did notice this, nobody seemed very concerned.
Television, both local and national, decided to broadcast many of the Alaska Governor’s unctuous stump speeches. To put it in her vernacular, they were tight little pointed packages of verbiage, designed to strike fear in the hearts of those with just enough audacity of hope, to actually question her supposed patriotic authority. This was ironic. The advancement of women in the workplace, now included creating an unapologetic demagogue.

Senator McCain for his part seem befuddled. Long before the economic crisis, he seemed off his game the first day he announced his vice- presidential pick. The kind of people that Sarah Palin pals around with (witch doctor, secessionist) added an exotic flare to her biography that was not exactly desirable. When shadow president Dick Cheney endorsed their ticket, a McCain supporter said to me: “we need that like we need a hole in the head.”

Despite it being often reported how much Barack Obama outspent Senator McCain, here in the local market the Republican based fear ads were everywhere. Where money really did make a difference was the boots on the ground, the so-called ground game. Here Obama’s people seemed omnipresent, continuously calling up for support, asking if you need help when going to vote. As late as the last hour before the polls closed, I saw Obama workers still knocking on doors. After witnessing this gargantuan effort, it is not surprising at all that Senator Obama won the state of Ohio. I am sure Indiana experienced similar actions. The McCain crowd, even the third part dreamers, could not match the hard work and tenacity of the Obama campaign. Why should they be surprised at the results?

But there is no way to describe, or simply convey, what happened on election night. This is something I will never experience again, after living over half a century on this earth. It all fell into place around 11pm, eastern standard time. The television news announced that Senator Barack Hussein Obama would be the next United States President.

I look over at my older brother, who says to me, using his Animal House language: “The war is over. Obama dropped the big one.”

I quickly went upstairs, knocked on the bedroom of my 82 year old mother. “Mom, I said, Barack Obama is the next President of the United States.”
There was a quiet joy on her face knowing that she lived long enough to see something occur that only a few years ago was said to be a complete impossibility. To know, to actually know, that destiny is not always predicted, that Providence, if you will, works in very mysterious ways.

I quickly made an exit from my house to the convenience store located a couple of blocks away. Being a beer consultant to non-alcohol drinking, middle eastern Americans, I have always been held in higher regard than I deserve.
“You predicted it.” Nasser said. The fiercely independent shop owner was abundantly happy, making reference to what I said a few days earlier, that Obama would win and it would all be over by midnight.

People in the store were shaking hands and giving hugs. Black people wandered in with a kind of happy shell shock. Damn! There is going to be a black man in the White House!

Nasser, feeling and looking magnanimous said: “What do you think of Barack Obama now?” and then, “The Beer Doctor predicted it.”
Which was all very flattering, but basically besides the point. My so-called analysis was simply based on the assumption that all the polls showed Senator Obama was ahead, and the only way for a McCain victory to happen would be if they were all wrong. The Harry Truman election was brought up briefly, but I said no, that won’t do, John McCain is not a sitting President.

Television, despite all the data, seemed to assume a say it isn’t so mode, right up to the end. This was understandable. TV has products to sell. A foregone conclusion can be a real marketing killer.

The expression tears of joy maybe foreign to many. But on this unforgettable night, I finally understood what that meant. Racism has always been an ugly backdrop growing up in the state of Ohio. My late father, a decent kind, thoughtful man, taught me at a very early age how ridiculous racism always was, even when to advocate this truth, you did so at your own peril. Even when I was only six years old, I thought the only race is the human race.

But considering that notion was difficult and sometimes dangerous. So many of the good people I lived around and their children that I played with, had essentially a racist viewpoint towards other parts of humanity. They justified dehumanizing black folks by claiming they were ignorant nigger monkeys. Wild animals as it were, ready on a moment’s notice , to come up the hill from the valley, to attack them unmercifully.

With such concentrated xenophobia, it is no revelation that my neighbors took comfort in their right to bear arms. After all, is that not what the second amendment is all about: guns to protect you against varmints? One good catholic family in the neighborhood took comfort and pride in knowing that a family member was in the National Guard, and that, in case of a riot, he could shoot niggers legally.

I kept my silence, knowing that the truth was a secret shared by my family only. Besides, our neighbors were good decent people, who happened to be racially insane. How did I know this? Well circumstantial evidence first and foremost. The most intelligent and talented kid at the elementary school I attended was black. For us other kids, he was a kind of oracle.

All of this unfinished business came flooding back that night Senator Obama became the President-elect. What a relief it was! To finally have the vindication that my fellow citizens are exactly that: my fellow citizens.
Perhaps this spells an end to the extreme right and extreme left, of the political spectrum. Those who have been driven by issues to the point of hardened cynicism, will have to reckon with the fact that sometimes justice actually does prevail, that human decency can eventually triumph.

This ship of state, through the unrelenting efforts of a community organizer, has been dragged over what was only recently considered an insurmountable mountain. All peace and blessings for that. These are new waters, in a new time, on which to sail.