I’m passing the baton on this one. Here’s as clear, thoughtful, and comprehensive summary of where we are as you’ll probably find on the net. Scroll down his blogroll to the “W’s” to find a really excellent blog. Sorry to my left-leaning readers for the “W” reference at this pivotal point and time.
I’ve set a record for time spent reading about, watching, and discussing this election. Thank goodness I don’t know the total hours spent. Why did I spend so much time, it wasn’t like I was trying to figure out who to vote for?
From elementary school on we’re told every vote counts, but I suspect many of us didn’t really believe that in our gut until the last few presidential, and in some cases, state and local elections.
I believe the marking and mailing of my ballot was an event of real consequence for myself, people in Washington state, other Americans, and people worldwide, but it was EVENT. Even though the people I help elect will spend the next 2-6 years making very influential decisions, I believe the daily decisions I make to parent, write, exercise, read, socialize, spend, and invest are PROCESSES that in the end, will have an even greater consequence on my well being.
Pressing Pause 
Thanks for the link. I have never been so addicted to an election as this one, it’s really an historic year. I’m also amazed by how much students are involved in this and knowledgeable about all that is happening. As I write this we’re an hour and five minutes away from Dixville Notch, NH posting the first votes of 2008!
Don’t mean to turn this blog into a linkfest, but Frontline was a good objective look at the candidates; something you don’t get much of around here!
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/choice2008/view/
Hey Ron…
What happened yesterday in America? A British newspaper proclaimed it a giant leap for mankind. From Obama Japan to Antarctica to Kenya to Western Europe and of course Canada, people seem to have recognized that something truly profound and seismic just took place. It goes beyond Barack’s inspirational vision of unity and change I suspect and his clear grasp of current tall issues facing the US economy and by extension the world at large, his delineation from the platitudes of the Republican party and the sense that with tectonic plates shifting constantly around the globe he may be the leader the free world needs at this time. Perhaps the real reason people wept openly was the acknowledgment of emotional inclusiveness more than anything else, the feeling that everyone was indeed equal, and that this wasn’t illusory. Is this then the dawn of a new Golden Age? Are we all going to be happy now for ever and ever? I daresay, I think not—Darwinism and everything else that makes sure human beings will ultimately see separation in all things could still win out as it has every time for millions of years; after all prosperous homogeneous societies haven’t necessarily been the end of terrible ills. I can only hope I guess that Obama will carry these great expectations the same way he weathered the rigors of the campaign trail—pretty damn well, in my opinion—but who can see the future?