2006 Election

[ziasudra]

So, the election. One personal boo is I didn't get called to be an interpretor as I had originally signed up for. But no big loss -- I got a few extra hours of sleep instead of dragging myself to the poll station on my day off from opening ^_^

Almost all of the U.S. news sites are watching the results closely, so no need to regurgitate here. I did make one interesting observation regarding the elections today: elanor is visiting from the U.K. and we were hanging out with a bunch of other LJers from the New York metro area. At some point during the night, we realized how difficult it was to be a non-American visiting the U.S. on election day -- there was no way for a visitor to join in all the politicky election talks.

Which made me wonder: how important is the election? Are we Americans making it out to be so much more important than it really is, when parts of the world still suffer from hunger and/or lack clean water and none of it stops just because of the U.S. election? But America is, for better or worse, an influential country, and our election matters. Especially during this particular midterm election, when (speaking as a left-of-center voter) there's a real chance to change the current one-party rule over pretty much all three branches of the government.

So, I will be watching the results closely. I do want to know who got the senator seat in the close NJ race. I was cheering in Lisa's car when the radio news channel announced Santorum's defeat.

As for the long-term effects of today's election, I guess we'll see in the weeks and months to come.

Comments

[glorfindelghost.livejournal.com]

Hi, here via friendsfriends and just wanted to comment as a foreigner with an interest in the midterms (its half 3 in the morning in England *yawn*): I think its crucial that Bush gets his hands tied and sits out his second term as a lame duck: America is hugely influential in world events, and I don't trust Bush and the Republicans not to to do anything else horrificially destructive and cataclysmic before '08!

I'm a little bit confused by it all, am just sitting here cheering on Democrat wins and booing that sleazy Santorum guy, and keeping my fingers crossed for Virginia and Montana...

[ziasudra.livejournal.com]

Hello, thanks for popping in and sharing your views from an angle that I wouldn't be able to have! I certainly agree with you on your point, and even more so, because I'm aware of the many rather ridiculous (imho) bills that the House would pass every once in a while that are small flies compared to big foreign policies, but indicative as to what a single-party controlled government is capable of doing when it decides to get stupid.

This isn't to say all Republicans are bad and all Democrats are good. Personally, I'd love to see more plurality in the U.S. government -- the left-right split has gotten more polarized to the point of detrimental, I believe. But to have a better balanced not-just-one-party government would be a start to some more well-rounded policies. At least that's the hope ^_^;;

[glorfindelghost.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I know what you mean: I felt rather bad for the Republican in Rhode Island who was opposed to the Iraq war and still lost his seat as part of the anti Bush backlash there (apparently his approval rating in that state was only 24%?! Yeesh!).

The Democrats are weak and ineffectual: But they're not Bush. which is of the good. They'll have to sink or swim with their new responsibilities, but at least the US electorate will have sent out a message.

So...help me out as i'm tired and confused: We're waiting on Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri and...um,somewhere else? Rather enjoyed Hillary's rather rousing speech but am flagging now and keep throwing cushions at the anchorman on CNBC news!

[ziasudra.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I went to sleep after replying to your previous comment... early day for me today :p

At the time last night, we were still waiting on a lot of West Coast states, which are three hours behind compared to the time zone on the East Coast. Polls usually close around 8 or 9 depending on the state, and after they close people had to shut down and count votes and all that... so it's quite literally something Americans could stay up the whole night for to find out.

Browsing through news Web sites, I notice that state-by-state results are floating in (it's just before 5 a.m. here now) and the Democrats are pretty much announced as having won the House (!). Yay, but now I have to go to work -_-

[sparkly-stuff.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear about Santorum! And I'm happy Ed Rendell won the senate race; I remember when he was mayor of Philly when I was growing up.

[ziasudra.livejournal.com]

I happened to be with Lisa and the rest of the l00bs when I first heard the news -- there was literally a cheer in the car when Santorum's defeat was announced.

Although I can't say much either way, since I'm not in his state. But some of the statements he's infamous for were really too much, imo.