History Made And Other Election Night Thoughts

First of all, congratulations to President Elect Barack Obama and Vice-President Elect Joe Biden. And congratulations to all of the volunteers, community organizers, and voters for a job well done. Whether you supported Obama or not, history was made tonight with the election of our first African American president. It is a sign of how far our world has come.

It is a sad commentary on our world though that PE Obama had to give his victory speech behind a box of bullet proof glass.

Congratulations also are in order to Senator John McCain. It was nice to see he regained his personal dignity and integrity. He gave a very classy concession speech. Too bad the same couldn't be said for many of his supporters, both at his party and in the blogosphere.

Many of the other races that hold interest have not been officially declared yet, but the signs are hopeful.

Congratulations to Sandy Pasch, who just one the State Assembly District 22. I hope that she continues the fine work her predecessor has done.

Also, it looks like Sheldon Wasserman is on his way to a fairly decisive victory of Alberta Darling to become the State Senator for Dictrict 8. It shows that the negativity of that has become too common among the Republicans is no longer being favored by the public.

AMENDED: It appears that negativity might win the day in this race after all. When I wrote this post originally, 60 percent of the votes were in, and Wasserman had a 60-40 lead. Now at 98% of the votes in, Darling appears to have eked out the election, although nothing has been formally called.

If Darling should manage to escape, I would like to offer her my congratulations. I would also offer my cond0lences to the people in the eighth senate district, as well as all the citizens of Wisconsin.

Congratulations to the citizens of the City of Milwaukee who voted for fairness in the sick leave referendum.

Congratulations also to the citizens of the County of Milwaukee, who were finally given a chance to voice their opinion, and used that voice to state that they want to save the parks and the transit system. Hopefully, the people in Madison will hear us now.

Finally, I would say to my fellow liberals and lefties: Celebrate now and enjoy the moment, for a moment. However don't get too happy or celebrate too long.

The real work starts now. We, of course, need to start taking measures to put this nation back on track to greatness. To secure the economy, to get our troops the hell out of Iraq and back to work on getting bin Ladin, and to restore our place of greatness in the world.

Yes, that is a list of hard jobs right there, but they aren't the only things we need to do. We need to be responsible and hold the people we just worked so hard to get elected to the promises they gave us. It does not matter whether they are in the state legislature, the US Congress, or the president elect himself. It is up to us to hold their feet to the fires, and ensure they do the jobs we elected them to do.

We also have to be vigilant ourselves and remember what we have been through, what inspired us to work so hard this election season. We do not want to become our leaders to become the liberal version of the Bush administration, nor do we want to become like some of the worst of the right wing supporters. We must reach across the aisle to those on the right.

Oh, I know the temptation is great to go to some of them and say something like: "Obama won. Get over it." Lord, do I know the temptation is great. But we must keep our values in mind, and not lose sight of who we are. I remember the pain I felt in 2000 and 2004. I remember the anger I felt as some, no way all, but some from the right rubbed our noses in it those years. Even though it would bring some satisfaction to turn around and do the same to them, I do not want to become like that which I hated.

I ask you, my liberal friends, to do the same.

Walker: Hypocrisy On Parade

Two stories made the paper, and yes, they clearly show how the paper is in the tank for Scott Walker.

The main story on the bottom of the front page of the Metro Section is a long series of quotes about how Walker is ticked off that the the County Board is considering sending out a mailing to explain the referendum on the proposed sales tax.

Somehow, the article manages to include all of Walker's faux outrage, but does not offer any proof. It does mention that Walker admits the mailing is perfectly legal, but that he still feels that advocates on behalf of the referendum. No mention on how it does, though. The article only explains what it says. Unless, of course, Walker believes that just allowing people know the truth about it is unfair.

The article somehow manages to get Walker's talking point about how it "might hurt sales," but not mention the fact that this is blatantly false. Nor does it mention the consequences of not properly funding the necessities, like public transit, as Walker's budget would do.

And for the detractors that would point out that it is a waste of taxpayer money to put this flyer out on the air, I can sympathize and even, to a certain extent, agree with that argument. But if you really want to argue that the County Board has no business informing the citizens of Milwaukee County about the facts regarding the referendum, you lose a lot of my sympathy by the simple fact that no one has ever complained about Walker using his office to campaign and advocate his causes on talk radio and right wing blogs.

Perhaps this is why Charlie Sykes and Scott Walker are so afraid of the Fairness Doctrine. They don't want the other side to have a voice, because then the voters and the citizenry would be informed.

In the other, smaller story, the County Board made the shrewd move of making Walker take ownership of the raise he wants to give to his Chief of Staff, Tom Nardelli. It makes sense, since he was so proud of getting a legal opinion and gave a lot of his other staffers healthy raises, even while he wants to lay off hundreds of workers and cut services. But he did that under cover, when no one was looking. Now that the eyes of Milwaukee County, and yes, the State of Wisconsin, were upon him, he threw Nardelli under the bus.

With friends like that, who needs enemies?

Again, the paper shows their bias by not once even mentioning all the other raises Walker gave to his other cronies.

Perhaps I should take the bet offered by my friend, blogger Elliot Stearns. But then again, it would be in very poor taste to take money from a man in a wheelchair. Maybe I'll just make him sign a copy of his book for me.