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Remember the Recent Unpleasantness and Vote

I was a very young girl, about the same height as the lever that closed the curtains to the voting booth, when my father took me by the hand and led me into the phone-booth-sized metal contraption to experience democracy in action. At the risk of dating myself, I’ll tell you that he pointed to the names in the governor’s race section of the poster-sized ballot, and let me push down the little lever next to the name “Jimmy Carter” for him. A decade later, I entered a voting booth in that same small north Georgia town and again pushed down a lever next to the name “Jimmy Carter,” this time casting my own vote–my first “official” one–to register my support for the re-election of then President Carter.

That first vote was for the losing candidate, a disappointment I have since experienced more often than not. You see, I was raised a Democrat in an overwhelmingly Democratic state. My father was named after Franklin Delano Roosevelt. One of his best friends named his son Joseph Kennedy. Where I came from, Southerners didn’t vote Republican. Georgia had been a Democratic-leaning state since the “Recent Unpleasantness of 1860 to 1864.” At the risk of sounding like a Cracker, I have to say that it was quite true, in my experience as a native of this state, that there was no tolerance for the party of Lincoln in the North Georgia mountains. For me, and for my family, it had nothing to do with slavery. There was no racial language or attitude in the community where I grew up. Being anti-Republican was a reaction to the destruction our area endured during the Civil War. There was a sense that we Southerners knew who we were. We were Democrats. Everyone was. In rural Georgia, there were a lot of yellow dogs. By the time I turned 18 and cast that first vote, things were starting to change. In little more than a decade, more than a century of Georgia loyalty to the Democratic Party was fading fast. I have never missed an election, and I have never voted for a single Republican. As a Georgian, that means I have supported the losing side in a lot of political races.

In the last several general elections, Georgia has been written off by the Democratic Party as too red to win. The Republican Party, and the media, also assume our color. Until now. Suddenly, with the audacity of Barack Obama’s candidacy, Georgia may be a battleground state. It’s just too bad the Georgia Democratic Party didn’t hold out much hope. Democrats have refused to fight in many critical Georgia races of the last several election cycles, fielding mostly unknown, inexperienced and drastically out-financed candidates. The party didn’t put up much of a fight in the 2004 election that sent Johnny Isaakson to the Senate. The state’s two strongest and best known Democrats, Kathy Cox and Mark Taylor, chose to fight instead for the Governor’s mansion in 2006. When the Democrats’ leading contenders fight each other rather than coming together to defeat Republicans, we all lose. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton replayed a similar scenario on the national stage this year. The wounds are still healing.

Now we find ourselves just four months away from the general election, and Georgia Democrats are barely paying attention. Even though there’s only a razor-thin Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate, few seem to have noticed that Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss is up for re-election. Few seem aware of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee’s goal to maintain a “firewall” of about 45 Republican Senators, for the purposes of filibustering any legislation, rendering as ineffective a slim Democratic majority in the Senate and cloture-blocking a possible President Obama. Few Georgia Democrats seem motivated by what the Republicans consider their most difficult election cycle since Richard Nixon resigned. Secretary of State Karen Handel told the Atlanta Journal-Consitution that turnout will be mostly motivated by local elections, not the statewide contest that will decide the Democratic challenger to Sen. Chambliss. She projected turnout statewide to be only 30 percent. Where is the momentum for change?

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And America’s Next Top Candidate Is…

After several hours of CNN, I’m left with the feeling that American Idol, America’s Next Top Model and their clones have given some politicians and pundits an overly healthy appetite for the dramatic pause. And the winner of the Democratic nomination is…the person who will face John McCain is…going to be revealed right after this ad for Lipitor. What I need is a dose of Xanax.

Hillary Clinton gave a defiant speech tonight, in front of an emotional crowd of supporters, and ultimately refused to concede the nomination, even though Barack Obama earned enough elected delegates to secure the nomination, then topped it off with more super delegate endorsements. The talk about “what will Hillary do” appears that it will continue ad nauseum — or at least a couple more days. Either way, it’s adding to my nausea.

I have been a Clinton supporter and contributor since Bill’s first run for president. In fact, this Georgian sent a campaign contribution to the senator when she first ran for the Senate in New York. I spent quite a lot of time agonizing over whether to vote for Sen. Clinton or Sen. Obama. I ultimately decided to support Obama, because he is an energizing leader who started where Howard Dean, my 2004 choice, left off. He was vocally opposed to the war in Iraq. He understood the power of using the Internet as a tool for mobilizing supporters and fundraising. And Obama does not embody evil encarnate from a Republican’s point of view. When a good friend of mine, who is a friend despite being a Republican, wanted to send me a link to some conspiracy video online detailing the numerous people whom the Clinton’s secretly killed, a la Swift Boat Veterans, my decision was easy. That moment last fall gave me a glimpse of an election season of more Republican vitriol, venom, distortions and outright lies. I knew I just couldn’t take it. Obama it is.

Meanwhile, the recent behavior of the Clintons has caused a reaction in me that I didn’t think possible. I actually don’t like them very much right now. Like fish or relatives that don’t know when to leave, my nose knows it’s time for them to step away.

Barack Obama made history tonight as this country’s first African-American candidate for a major political party. For LGBT Americans, this is perhaps a moment of great significance for us as well. Obama has been a reliable, public supporter of gay and lesbian rights in general. He did not touch the gay marriage tar baby. But he did speak publicly and often, even in front of less-than-gay-friendly groups, against homophobia and for a more tolerant and accepting society. For the leading, mainstream candidate, Obama did a better job than most of walking the wedge issue. Perhaps this fact signals that this country may truly be ready to change. Thanks to Barack Obama, I may actually have a little hope welling up past my general state of political dejection.

As for Senator Clinton’s “no decisions” speech tonight: this was a moment to truly think of the country and the Democratic Party. I actually feel a little betrayed that she didn’t seize it. And the whole situation almost makes me believe that the Clintons are ultimately more concerned with political power than with working for the ideas and policies that led me to support them for more than a decade.

So enough already. We know who the new American Idol is, and we know who will lead the Democratic charge to take back this country. With all due respect to the Clintons, and to all their supporters, many of whom are among my best friends, this is not about you. this is about all of us. Pick your high crime or misdemeanor of choice, from the Iraq war to Halliburton to climate change to your mortgage. We have to get this country back on track. IMHO, there’s never been a more important election in my lifetime. This train is leaving the station. Get on board, or get out of the way.