TooMuchInformation

After watching the election results in a bar in Murray Hill, and a mad jaunt uptown to be part of the celebration in Times Square, I headed home on the L train.  It was after midnight and my voice was raspy from cheering and eyes red from the occassional emotional overwhelming.  Although it was late, the platform at Union Square was crowded and the arriving train full. 

Four years ago, I was up in the middle of the night watching the results online from my apartment in France.  I felt like I was the only one awake that night, desperately hitting refresh on the NYTimes website every few minutes to see changes in the Bush-Kerry contest.

Last night I was one of many.  Happy, hoarse, and tired, it was a rambunctions train ride.  A woman with a drum stood at the end of the car hitting a beat that kept the crowd chanting along.  At each stop along the way, when the doors opened and passengers departed for their beds, a loud whoop went up the stairs and turnstiles.  I was tempted to stay on till the last stop to see if the good spirits remained until the cars were empty.  But my bed was calling and I wanted to check on Indiana.

At the start of the night, in the bar, a couple visting from Germany sat at a table behind me, asking for details on the entire process.  They seemed to get the idea of the Electoral College, but the notion that some states had longer voting hours and different methods for counting wasn’t sinking in for them.  Also perplexing was the fact that with only 1% of precincts counted the newscasters were certain that Kentucky was going for McCain.

I can’t say how many people on the train had a grasp of our process, but the mood was high, proud, satisfied, jubilant, energized, relief.

Why is it our Congress is taking great pains to socialize debt, but not healthcare?

For the last three weeks the country has been asking Who is Sarah Palin?

This Friday the questioning shifts to Where is John McCain?  His campaign announced today that they were suspending campaigning so he could participate in some Freddie Mac problem solving.  (I suspect he’s actually manning the paper shredder in his Senate office.)  Part of this suspension is to withdraw from Friday’s candidate debate.

So, on Friday, when Barack Obama walks alone onto the stage at Ole Miss will we be able to see through the smoke and mirrors at the Republican’s latest weapon of mass distraction? 

Why won’t McCain debate?  Why can’t he debate?  The American presidency has got to be the ultimate office in multi-tasking, and this guy has to run to Washington to meet with a committee he’s not even assigned to and participate in debating hearings he skipped.  American voters need to hear and compare our candidates views on the financial crisis, but also the healthcare crisis, the crisis in Iraq, the energy crisis, the environmental crisis, the housing crisis, and many others. 

But John McCain won’t be able to make it.  He’ll be in Washington.  Trying to look like an outsider.

LYRICS

This is my American Prayer
This is my American Prayer

This is the time to finish what you started
And this is no time to dream
This is the room
We can turn off the dark tonight
Maybe then we might see

American Prayer
American Prayer

And this is the ground
That keeps our feet from getting wet
And this is the sky over our head
And what you see depends on where you stand
And how you jump will tell you where you’re gonna land

American Prayer
American Prayer

My oh my
Couldn’t get much higher
Lets not kick out the darkness
Make the light brighter

And these are the hands
What are we gonna build with them?
This is the church you can’t see
Give me your tired, your poor and huddled masses
You know they’re yearning to breathe free
This is my American Prayer
American Prayer
American Prayer

When you get to the top of the mountain
Will you tell me what you see
If you get to the top of the mountain
Remember me