MY ELECTION DAY JITTERS

Then I looked at the actual figures coming in from both States, and shouted Holy Moses, what has the “Teflon Candidate” done here, mow down his opponent to size, wow Jesus of Nazareth, mind you I am a Godanist strictly African belief a belief that says we had our God before the advent of the white imperialists, Chukwu, Chineke, but this day okay this evening I was ready to invoe His name.  I went to the refrigerator and poured a good amount of white wine.  It needed celebration, all the polls were wrong, wrong, wrong, except the not-so-trusted Zogby that has been quite off in this election circle.

On the Pennsylvania primary day on April 22, 2008, I practically raised my high blood pressure to high havens I am sure.  I was switching from one channel to the other, between CNN and MSNBC.  Mind you, I never watch False News Channel, even their so-called big number ‘Idol, well except their ‘24’.  When I was switching channels, I was in clicking from one website to another.  Within the first hour when the networks or the cables had not called the result for Hillary, there was some jubilation that something was about to happen.  Even somebody on mydd.com, who said he had a solid source for what he wrote, “stunner about to happen,” predicted that Obama might win PA.  Well we know how it ended with Clinton winning with 10%.

So, I said to myself yesterday, I wasn’t going to suffer the same thing.  My heart is too important, I love Obama dearly, but I wasn’t going to run up my blood pressure again yesterday.  So, I decided I was going to be far away as possible from my television, in fact I went to New York and went to a Starbucks place on 42nd Street and 3rd Avenue, to while away the time.  As lively as the discussion was about what I should be to sell more newspapers and get more advertisers for the African Sun Times, my mind was not in it because I continued to think of what was going on in Indiana and North Carolina.  Earlier in the day, I had discussed with a sista from Uganda who in the Washington/Maryland area that I was just praying that Obama should win North Carolina even with a squeaker, it didn’t matter, let it be just a win.  With all the battering he had been subjected to both by the media and the Clinton campaign, a win in NC by 50+1 would be a big win.  Losing IN and NC would spell disaster for his campaign. 

Before 9 pm, I said to my friend, listen I have to go, I have some other things to do, I was no longer listening, the bug of knowing the result had bitten me again.  I went to the parking lot near the UN and retrieved my car, and quickly turned on the radio.  There was rubbish discussion about something, I wasn’t listening either, waiting for the clock to sound 9 pm when the news about the elections would come on.  Well, was I pleasantly surprised when the announcer said that Obama had won North Carolina, it was called immediately for him after the polls closed, and that results from Indiana continued to be counted though Clinton was leading.  To me, that was ok, it meant that she hadn’t won outright as the closing polls had suggested that she would win with between 5 to 12% points in Indiana, and how the polls were tightening in North Carolina.

My heart beat was no longer sputtering, and I became calm, revved up my car and jetted home.  By 10 pm I was back in the house, I pressed the tv button to MSNBC, which I have lately been watching avidly, but only on Countdown with Keith Olbermann and Verdict with Abram Adams.  For some reason, I found Chris Matthews to be propagating for Hillary, and forget the Road to the Whitehouse nonsense, where David never allows anybody to finish their thoughts.  On election nights, Keith is more in charge though the two are the anchors.  Did you read where Chris Matthews is said to be jealous of Keith, and that Keith looks down on him.

Then I looked at the actual figures coming in from both States, and shouted Holy Moses, what has the “Teflon Candidate” done here, mow down her opponent to size, wow Jesus of Nazareth, mind you I am a Godanist strictly African belief a belief that says we had our God before the advent of the white imperialists, Chukwu, Chineke, but this day okay this evening I was ready to invoe His name.  I went to the refrigerator and poured a good amount of white wine.  It needed celebration, all the polls were wrong, wrong, wrong, except the not-so-trusted Zogby that has been quite off in this election circle. 

Then came the nail-biter, would Clinton or Obama prevail in Indiana, with Clinton leading with 28,000 votes.  Before I could say Jack Daniels, it had gone up to 30,000, and I said here comes Texas and Ohio night again.  Now it’s up to more than 40,000, but the Lake County area where Gary, IN is located is yet to report, and the Mayor there is predicting an earth shacking results/game changer when the results come in.  The punditocracy are speculating about an Obama win or Clinton squeaking in with 1800 votes.  Hold on!  Holly Molly, what just happened here!!  The difference has dropped down to 16,699 votes, with 44% of Lake County reporting.  On lousy CNN, they have started impugning something unsavoury going on, what with Chicago just near there, implying a Chicago kind of politics to the result.  All those pundits who were doubting Obama could do it, well they had eggs bashed on their faces.  So, Tim Russert on MSNBC chimes in, ““We now know who the Democratic nominee’s going to be, and no one’s going to dispute it,” he said on MSNBC. “Those closest to her will give her a hard-headed analysis, and if they lay it all out, they’ll say: ‘What is the rationale? What do we say to the undeclared super delegates tomorrow? Why do we tell them you’re staying in the race?’ And tonight, there’s no good answer for that.”.” Any doubts.

Todd Beeton, on mydd.com says who had been wavering between both candidates, but leaning towards Clinton on getting the job done, had this to say this morning.  “The upshot is that there is no way to spin away what happened tonight: Senator Clinton had a really bad night and Senator Obama had a phenomenal one. It’s impossible to overstate the significance of what he accomplished, not only considering what he’s overcome over the past three weeks but also considering how decisively he denied Clinton what she needed to continue to have a credible path to the nomination. To put it plainly, tonight was her final shot and she needed to win Indiana by 8-10% and to lose NC by 1-3%; in other words she needed to do about 10% better in each state than she did in order to keep Michigan and Florida relevant and the popular vote in play for superdelegates. Unfortunately, she was unable to do either. Zogby was right this time and Survey USA...and I...were wrong.” Okay, okwu agwugo1!  Need I say more!!

Just now, I read that former Senator and presidential candidate, George McGovern, was switching sides and supporting Barack Obama.  But more importantly, he called on Senator Clinton to quit.

By the way, this morning, I called the data cruncher who had brought us so many innovations in cyber space, like ‘moving on’, but more importantly the ‘SPIN ZONE,’ and that’s Bolaji Aluko.  He and I had a hearty laugh and a patting on the back.  Yeah, our dog ran a fantastic race, yeah he won big!!

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