Regardless of what people said last night and today, I still think there is hope. Yes, we got crushed in the House. Yes, we have a very slim, non filibuster proof majority in the Senate. Yes, the Tea Party had candidates who won. Yes, our new Speaker of the House looks like an Oompa Loompa. However, not all is lost, and I think there still is hope for the United States.
Last night was one of the greatest and most depressing nights of my life. As I drove home from the Palo Alto Headquarters of the Democratic Party, I was crying. Hard. My sister was also crying, but only because I was.
Why did I cry? We just lost the House, a House I remember winning in 2006, four years ago. Has it only been four years? That's not the only reason I was crying. Mostly, I was crying because of the Senate. Yeah, we had our majority, and the real creeps had been defeated.
This is going to sound horrible, and I felt like a complete asshole for even thinking this, but I honestly wish we had lost the Senate and kept Feingold. I wish we had lost the Senate had Sestak had won. I wish we had lost the Senate and could say Conway was a United States Senator.
I'm a jerk, I know. But Feingold was honestly the first senator, other than Ted Kennedy, who I admired, looked up to, saw as a good person, and who truly encouraged me to speak out for what I believe in. Democrats hated him, for not always agreeing with the base, but that made me love him even more. I, being a stupid optimist, thought he would actually win, but no, I was wrong and he lost.
Watching Sestak admit defeat killed me. I sat there and cried. Only two hours before, one of he guys working with me came running in, happy. "Sestak up by 10, 50% counted." Well, all we could do was sit there and watch as Toomey caught up and, smug, gave a speech about how he would help steer the country in the right direction. I love Sestak, hate Toomey, and couldn't stand the world for a few minutes. I was torn between crying and punching out a wall.
It wasn't all negative last night. It looks like the Democrats swept my home state, California. So while the rest of the country, except for maybe Washington and New England and maybe Maryland, goes to Hell in a hand basket, California will be in mostly good hands. Sorry guys, but it's true. So we can't legally smoke pot yet, but hey, now we can pass a budget and we beat Texas oil. That's a plus, huh?
We lost big and we lost bad, but it is not because America is not liberal or progressive or even Democratic anymore. We lost because we did screw the past two years up. We tried our hardest to help the country, but we had to face the Tea Party, couldn't control our own in Congress, and had to deal with the DINOSAUR Joe Liberman. But we still screwed up. We were unable to get our message out effectively. Obama went from liberal to moderate. We did not inform everyday Americans, everyday Americans who needed our help the most.
I have hope. The next two years are probably going to suck. Government will shut down. But it will get better. Obama has told the country time and time again, has said the Democrats will work with the Republicans, called on Republicans to work with Democrats. The Republicans have flat-out refused, and I honestly have faith in the American people. I believe that the American people are going to see what the Republicans have done, and will compare to the Democrats, and will fix their mistakes.
This is a great country. I love the United States. I honestly want to see it end up in a place that's good for everyone, rich poor, white, black, Hispanic, Asian, Protestant, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Mormon, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist, agnostic, straight, gay, bi, whatever you may be.
I want to the United States working again.
Today starts the 2012 election. Let's go and win this country back.