It’s the election in 2008. If you were like me, you were fed up. The current administration had told half-truths for eight years. Justifying war, illegal wiretapping of its citizens, the torture of foreign combatants and the thoughtless deregulation of industry. The administration waged two wars while cutting taxes. Previous generations had sacrificed of themselves so that wars wouldn’t leave us financially barren -the administration didn’t share this mindset. This coincided with and helped lead to an impending collapse of our financial/housing markets.
These circumstances led to the election of a young, Democratic Senator from Illinois that could get even the most cynical people to stand up and cast a vote in his hopeful direction. If you were like me, you voted for Barack Obama because you knew that a “new day” was just around the corner. If you were like me, you went to Ohio and worked for his campaign, you knocked on doors and made sure people knew where their polling station was. You saw him speak in downtown Cleveland and got to hear Bruce Springsteen introduce him (very cool). You sat on the steps of the Lincoln memorial while he was sworn in. If you were like me, you were smitten.
If you were really, really like me, the night he won the election you were SO elated that you went down to your music studio in your basement and recorded the song posted here. “It’s a new day, it’s a new day for all” are the only lyrics. I had been so fed up with the previous administration that I sincerely felt like the slate had been wiped clean and we were in for a new kind of leadership.
Was I wrong? Was I too naïve? Have we received a new type of leadership? –I’d say yes, we have. Have we received a new kind of politics? –No. The hyperbolic nature of partisan politics is horrible right now. Was it like this under Bush? My first instinct is to say, “No, no way, it was never this bad under Bush”.
It was though.
The difference is, when Bush was in office I was on the offense. I was the one saying he was an “idiot” he was a “terrible leader”… and worse. There were plenty of people throwing horrible slanders Bush’s way but the political climate didn’t feel as poisonous to me then as it does now. Why? –Because I was on offense.
I helped our current President get elected, which means now I’m on defense. Being on defense sucks. You don’t score on defense, you’re constantly walking backward and any achievements you make aren’t noted on the front page. No matter what though offense vs. defense, someone is always losing. This needs to change.
I no longer feel the hopeful idealism I felt the day he was elected, but no person could have met those expectations. I no longer think it’s within any one persons power to change our political climate. I don’t regret my decision to help Senator Obama become President Obama. I still know he was the right man for the job, I just don’t think it’s a “new day for all”. –It’s kind of… well, just another day.
btw: Still like the song.