It's over ... It's just starting

I had to let it all sink in, post-election, but now I've got a few thoughts. Which - like it or not - I'm sharing.

Barack Obama's election is historic in many ways, not the least of which is that a biracial man from a broken lower middle-class home has been elected to the highest office in our country. African-Americans - all Americans, in fact - have every right to hold their heads up high, proud of the social progress that our country has made in the past century. But the sweetness of Obama's win on Tuesday is countered for many by the bitterness of the simultaneous further denial of full and equal rights for all our citizens - the LGBT citizens of this country. Ironically, many of the same people who celebrated Obama's election as being ordained by God also celebrated the denial of rights to LGBT folks for exactly the same reason. Yes, we've come a long way, but we still have a very long way yet to go. Until EVERY CITIZEN enjoys all the same rights and privileges, this is still not a truly free country. A country under Barack Obama and a new infusion of legislative blood has a much better chance of starting to rectify these inequities than our country under George Bush ... but apparently not a really big chance. Encouraged by their success last Tuesday in California, Florida, Arizona and Arkansas, the Religious Reich is now vowing to once again spread their agenda of hatred to all the states. From Richard Combs, President of the Christian Coalition of America:

The American people are proud of their fellow citizens in the states of California, Florida and Arizona for upholding traditional marriage between one man and one woman. Christian Coalition of America will continue to fight to ensure that government serves to strengthen and preserve, rather than threaten, our families and our values. Thus far, 30 states have outlawed homosexual "marriages" by an average close to 70% approval by voters through amendments to the state constitutions. In addition, the voters in Arkansas yesterday approved a measure banning unmarried couples from serving as adoptive or foster parents. It will be the goal of Christian Coalition to ensure that the other 20 states adopt similar amendments banning homosexual "marriages" including the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut which also had two judicial decisions, by one vote margins, legalizing these abominations.

Further evidence that we Americans made the right choice in electing Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Carl Cameron at FauxFox News is now reporting that the Sarah Palin problems within the McCain campaign were worse than they let on.

I wish I could have told you more at the time but all of it was put off the record until after the election. There was great concern in the McCain campaign that Sarah Palin lacked the degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, and a heartbeat away from the presidency. We're told by folks that she didn't know what countries were in NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, that being the Canada, the US, and Mexico. We're told she didn't understand that Africa was a continent rather than a country just in itself ... a whole host of questions that caused serious problems about her knowledgeability. She got very angry at staff, thought that she was mishandled.....was particularly angry about the way the Katie Couric interview went. She didn't accept preparation for that interview when the aides say that that was part of the problem. And that there were times that she was hard to control emotionally there's talk of temper tantrums at bad news clippings.

And Newsweek has this added piece of news:

Palin's shopping spree at high-end department stores was more extensive than previously reported. While publicly supporting Palin, McCain's top advisers privately fumed at what they regarded as her outrageous profligacy. One senior aide said that Nicolle Wallace had told Palin to buy three suits for the convention and hire a stylist. But instead, the vice presidential nominee began buying for herself and her family-clothes and accessories from top stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. According to two knowledgeable sources, a vast majority of the clothes were bought by a wealthy donor, who was shocked when he got the bill. Palin also used low-level staffers to buy some of the clothes on their credit cards. The McCain campaign found out last week when the aides sought reimbursement. One aide estimated that she spent "tens of thousands" more than the reported $150,000, and that $20,000 to $40,000 went to buy clothes for her husband. Some articles of clothing have apparently been lost. An angry aide characterized the shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast."

Please let this be the last we hear about this "hockey mom".