Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Forty-Four for Four More

Yeah go ahead and say that four times fast! Well we all are waking up to the news, if we didn’t stay up last night to watch it first hand, that President Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney in the United States Presidential race. How does everyone feel? Wait, don’t answer that…it’s a loaded question.

But this is my blog so you better believe I’m telling you how I feel this morning.

First of all there was this circulating all over the internet last night:


Cute right? It is, and that’s the thing that gets me every time about this guy. The fact that he actually gives a crap. The fact that he seems to connect with his people. Because you know something? Regardless of who gets in they may or may not be able to do anything about anything. But there is no way to fake compassion. There’s no way to fake it that you still love your wife.

He may not be able to fix it all but at least you have to give it to the President, on a truly human level the man does care that its broken to begin with.

Because no matter who is in the position of power in this country there are a few things that are true.

First, we’re a bunch of big babies who have nothing better to do than bash the opposition. As evidenced by the barrage (and I mean flipping barrage) of political commercials telling us how much “the other guy sucks” that I’ve been watching for the past couple months.

Second, when someone in a top political position makes a mistake it’s okay to harp on that forever as long as it gets the other guy the win. Because after all, real politicians don’t ever make mistakes, right?

Finally, and perhaps most important of all, no matter who wins it is our right as citizens to complain about it ad infinitum instead of actually getting off our lazy asses to do something about what we don’t like.

Don’t like Obama? No problem. Just call him an idiot on Facebook, post a photo showing some fabricated statistics that you haven’t even bothered to fact-check and tell your friends to share it. Within minutes half of Facebook is high-fiving you for your brevity in taking a stand against the President, the other half is rolling their eyes and de-friending you.

Then I’m over here like, is this politics or Hollywood? Because I’m pretty sure the lines got blurred at some point. And you know what? So what.

Personally I’m happy the President was re-elected and will be serving for a second term. It isn’t strictly because I trust in his views and plan. It isn’t only because I watched Mitt Romney successfully run Massachusetts into the ground so I would never have voted for him (for us less well-off folk that is, the wealthy were probably holding up rally banners for the guy). It also comes down to that photo up there.

Because if the lines between politics and Hollywood are going to be blurred I’m voting for ‘happily ever after’ ride off into the sunset with your Prince Charming every single time. I love that he loves his wife. I love that she loves him back. I love that the two of them are, dare I say it, a genuinely happy couple with two cute kids and a good family dynamic. From what I see of course. I get that I don’t live with them so who really knows but if there were ever two politicians that seemed genuinely happy together these two are those people.

And as far as I’m concerned that counts for a lot. Maybe more than policy. Frankly I think the entire country could benefit from dropping some of their fear and falling back in love again. I don’t care who or what that love is expressed for, just love.

Love cheeseburgers? Get passionate about it, fight for your cheeseburger! Love your spouse? Show it. And who cares who sees it. Maybe it will rub off and a few other people will start to realize they love someone else too. And then others will see and feel it, share it and express it…

See how it can grow?

A few states pointed their middle finger at fear last night.  Let’s start with Washington, Colorado and Massachusetts. I applaud all of you for taking another step toward the country’s prosperity by approving measures on marijuana reform. Talking about this as a benefit in that tax dollars on the product could assist with reducing the national deficit (or at least at a state level to begin with) deserves its own post. So I won’t go into the specifics here but suffice to say I couldn’t be more pleased to see there are states that get it and want to try to get right with their budgets.

Now, for the naysayers, just because those states approved it doesn’t mean they’re going to force it on you. Believing that you’ll be forced to smoke it and that everyone will be sitting around on their mom’s basement sofa getting high all the time if it becomes legal is, again, just fear. Get over your fear and embrace the revenue this product can support.

And speaking of…possibly the most glorious of all ways to show that love is better than fear, Maine and Maryland** I’d just like to extend a big high-five to both of you for telling the rest of the country that you support love no matter who is in love with who. Gay marriage is legal.

Straight? Great! Gay? Okay! Yeah I’m rhyming here to make a point. What the fuck does it really matter if the two people in question are in love, happy, want to get married? LOVE, remember? Politicians shouldn’t be able to tell anyone who they should and shouldn’t love. Why it’s okay for some people to be happy but others get no benefit for spending their lives together other than the knowledge that they were happy.

And believe me, I get that to a point. Lots of people run around saying that it’s just a piece of paper, why do they need it so badly to prove (to all the straight people) that they’re happy? Flip that argument on its head for a second…why do the straight people give a shit? That’s my question. Does it value love any less if two men are holding hands? Two women kissing? Two happy people are raising children to understand that being in love means being in love and it doesn’t matter who it’s with as long as it’s real? Perhaps they should ask themselves the real question – what is it that really makes them uncomfortable? My guess is that deep down inside, on some level, they are afraid of love.

And that’s a damn shame because love rules.

So personally I’m pretty thrilled that Obama will be in the White House for four more years. We get four more years of seeing that through struggles and difficulties, through real issues we all face every day, in the end the Beatles were right.

All you need is love.

Congratulations President Obama. Please never lose your passion or compassion for the people you go to fight for every single day. And you know I mean Michelle, Sasha and Malia. Because even though the rest of us are an important part of your country, and you are dutifully bound to protect and serve us, your family is truly where your love lives.

And every single American could benefit from learning to appreciate the lesson you’re teaching.

**A side note high-five to Wisconsin for electing the first openly gay Senatorial candidate!

11 comments:

Judi FitzPatrick said...

Right On ! ! !

Maine-y-ac said...

great post! so true -- all you need is LOVE

#1Nana said...

It was with great relief that I watched the acceptance speech last night. We're safe for another four years. Did't you love his speech?

Suldog said...

I did not want Obama. Nor did I want Romney. I hope I make that part clear in my post today.

Love you, love your writing.

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

Definitely the point of this post!

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

I didn't actually make it to even see Romney's concession speech. That was far too late for me. I can't say I'm thrilled with the outcome but I'm certainly glad Romney didn't win if that counts for anything. I just love his family attitude!

Jenn Flynn-Shon said...

I had no doubt that would be your take Jim. Like I said to Jann, can't say its blowing my hair back to rah-rah Obama right now but I can say that I might have considered moving to a new country for the first time in my life had Romney gotten in. I'll be over to check your post soon!

Almost Precious said...

Jenn - great post. I must admit that years ago I was a registered Republican but when the once moderate Republican party began courting the extreme far right . . . well they lost me, irrevocably! Since then I've re-registered as "No Party Affiliation" (NPA) and am very happy not to feel any obligation to any party.

Yes I too am happy to see Obama win and I shake my head in disbelief when I hear disgruntled Reps. say what a liar Obama is when they fail (really, they refuse) to see the lies and deceit of their own party. If Romney was such a Saint, such a glorious knight in shinning armor, then why did Massachusetts reject him so unanimously ? If he had been such a fantastic governor and created so many jobs, one would think he would have had full backing of his home state. That alone told me all I really needed to know about the man. Looks aren't everything and a bad book is still a bad book even if it has an attractive book cover. :D

Launna said...

I was grateful that Obama won... he's definitely better than Romney. I love what you wrote here about us just needing love.

Awesome post Jenn :)

Anonymous said...

Perfectly said Jenn. :)