Yes We Can!!!!

I'm so proud of Indiana right now, I want to hug it.

Yay Hoosiers!

You've kept me sane (relatively) going into the election.

My choice for congressman in CA is currently in the running in CA, without ANY help from the Dems against a "safe" 16 year incumbent Repub.

Over here in London I woke with the urge to play Stevie Wonder's Black Man - corny of me I know, guess the lyrics need updating now. Actually this song seems to have fallen out of favour in the more than 30 years since Songs in the Key of Life was released. Too "separatist", politically correct etc?

Anyway, ALL congratulations to America. We're so proud of yah! I'm even more moved than I'd have thought I would be, "Joy inside my tears" etc. Now, where's the nearest street party in London?!

The one thing that makes me uneasy though is memories of Tony Blair's victory in 1997; the same sense of excitement over a young leader whose election promised a new era. And then look what happened. So please no strains today of Things Can Only Get Better.

How about "Clowntime Is Over" by Elvis Costello and "Who'll Stop the Rain?" by CCR?

Oops, forget about the CCR--I was going for an "out of darkness, into the light" vibe, and this number's a bit more pessimistic than that. Oh, well, perhaps I'll think of something more fitting soon.

James Brown's "Living in America" since last night. (God, ol' JB would have _loved_ this. :) And as a special shout-out to The Insufferable Ms. Palin--Nancy Sinatra's, "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'"

"You keep lying, when you oughta be truthin'--

and you keep losin' when you oughta not bet.

You keep samin' when you oughta be changin'.

Now what's right is right, but you ain't been right yet.

These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do

One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you.

You keep playin' where you shouldn't be playin--

and you keep thinkin' that you´ll never get burnt.

Ha! I just found me a brand new box of matches yeah

and what he know you ain't HAD time to learn...." :)

American Anthem sung by Norah Jones

What a Wonderful World sung by Louis Armstrong

.. "Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer.

Change Is Gonna Come.

Joan, I'm disappointed.

Oh, and Tupac's 'Changes'

;-)

I can't seem to stop writing and blogging . . .

Joan, you forgot what I think are two of the most appropriate songs (in their own way):

"America the Beautiful," performed by Ray Charles

"The Star-spangled Banner," performed live at Woodstock by Jimi Hendrix.

I'm a sentimental softy and the child of Boomers, I admit, but I still think those two songs sum up this moment.

to McCain's concession speech.

I understand your bristling at the mention of special pride. But, Joan...really? You think that your special pride as a white liberal can even remotely compare to black American's whose parents and grandparents had honest-to-goodness relationships with former slaves???

As a fellow white liberal I have a wholly unique sense of pride in my country this evening. But I would never presume to have any visceral understanding of the pride felt by my black friends. Never.

McCain did a courageous thing by putting that in his speech. And, by so doing turned the page on a long, hateful chapter of Republican politics in this country. Don't belittle that, please.

Of course, we must remain diligent as hell to see to it that radical conservatives don't try and flip back a few pages to revisit the violent illustrations of the past!

jazztao, with all due respect...(that usually precedes something disrespectful, but this won't)...I just didn't hear McCain's speech that way. Of course African Americans feel special pride, they should, but the way McCain said it limited it to African Americans in a way that was...off. And that's part of why he lost, because he and his campaign didn't understand how much so many of us had invested in the meaning of an Obama win. Of course, his being the right person for the time, and his being African American, were intertwined, and both contribute to why this is such a heart-stopping victory. McCain never got any of that, and he disrespected Obama, and his supporters of every race, with his blinkered dismissal of Obama's eligibility for the job.

Oh, I tried to add "A Change is Gonna Come" to the playlist but I couldn't sync my iPod and I just went with what was actually on my playlist. That was an obvious omission. I also wanted to add "Oh Happy Day." I might have a new playlist tomorrow.

An' he does what he can

He's a Superfly...

Glad you're gettin' it all together with the Godfather

And gettin' down with it all on the good foot...

Good night.

This is no time for hyper-sensitivity.

This is a time for gladness, oneness, and festivity!

J. Walsh,

I guess we didn't agree all of the time, which I find no crime, thanks for keepin' it straight up, eyes open, and unblind, and thanks for just sayin', what all's on your mind.

Let's all live long, and with luck, properly prosper.

We still have ugly 'ol Ahmad-I-Need-a-Job to defeat in Iran's upcoming elections!

Peace and prosperity through rhyming dexterity.

Salams not Bombs

Klytus

Yes, I see your point. And, I agree with it; the McCain camp has been incomprehensibly tone deaf for months now.

I don't know that that's news to them though. And, I still believe--based on the rest of his address--that McCain really was trying to do the right thing. I think his "shout-out" to African-Americans was sincere.

To inject my imagination a bit further, I get the sense that McCain gets that violent opposition to Obama would be an horrific, if not-surprising outcome of his campaign's race/terrorist-baiting and he is desperately, humbly, if much too belatedly trying to quash any sort of conservative up-rising.

@Klytus: I don't believe I was being hyper-sensitive. I just think that McCain was going out of his way to give props to African-Americans, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. In fact, I find it admirable coming from the party of Willie Horton ads! I do think that it should not in any way rub white progressives the wrong way.