Jessica

Vozel

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November 3, 2008

Victory Is At Hand, So Why Are Democrats Fretting?

It’s a tough time to be a Democrat. Sure, there have been tougher times – such as, oh, the last eight years or so. But this election eve, it’s a different kind of struggle. The last eight years have been about getting through it, about remembering that George W. Bush’s reign is finite and that eventually someone better, more qualified, and more rational would take his place.

Now, we’re at a precipice. Our candidate, Barack Obama, is not this race’s underdog. We have a real chance at having a Democrat in the White House again – a Democrat that we’re excited about for reasons other than the fact that he’s not George Bush. This should be a time for letting out our collective breath – we’re almost there. But accompanying this dizzying surge of hope is a profound fear.

We’re caught in a compulsive poll-checking limbo, making sure things haven’t shifted a single percentage point for John McCain in the last 15 seconds. We check the headlines only at the most liberal news sites because we can’t bear to read anything that doesn’t reassure us. We do this because we know that we have to blow this thing out of the water, or else something bad is going to happen. Be it voter fraud, sketchy voting machines, lower-than-expected voter turnout amongst young people or a last minute surprise from the McCain camp, we are disillusioned enough to know that it ain’t over ‘til it’s over and that our only assurance is a landslide.

McCain’s campaign has more money to spend in these final days. One Zogby poll has McCain ahead 48 to 47 on their final day of poll-taking. McCain even ventured Saturday into anti-American territory – New York City – to make an appearance on Saturday Night Live. Likely, one SNL appearance will not sway undecided voters three days before the election. In fact, most undecided voters have in fact decided by now. Still, McCain was self-deprecating and almost warm on the SNL stage, joking about his last-minute strategies, which include The Sad Grandpa, the Double Maverick and the Reverse Maverick, where McCain “does whatever anyone tells me.”

Then there’s the ads. In Ohio, we are inundated, and lately they all seem to be attacking Obama, using images of children on swing sets coupled with swooping fighter planes to scare voters and associate Obama with an inevitable terrorist attack, as if we wouldn’t face the same dangers with McCain in office. Attack ads have not benefited McCain thus far, but what if this time they resonate?

Also, gas prices are falling. Here in Cincinnati, I filled up my tank for under $25 for the first time in nearly four years. Last I looked, gas here was $1.95 a gallon. What if this is enough to make voters think we’re in the clear, to steer them away from the candidate who has shown leadership in the face of economic crisis? Some of us even cynically speculate that the dropping prices are an oil company scheme to help elect McCain.

Every small shift threatens to break our hearts.

Contributing to our fear is that John McCain is not the same man he was when this election began. Though we never rooted for him, we considered his patriotic life story and his tendency for at least center-right policies. He was against torture and for campaign finance reform. He was not rabidly pro-life. In other words, he was conservative, but he was not Bush. Though McCain fumes when accused of being Bush’s counterpart, his campaign hasn’t done much to prove otherwise. His policies have taken a leap into far-right territory and his campaign parrots the Rovian fear tactics he once denounced. If McCain wins, our optimistic countdown of days until Bush’s reign ends would be moot because another version of Bush will be inaugurated to replace him.

And so we Democrats worry and fret. We check the polls and headlines. We wish away the hours and curse Daylight Savings Time for adding another. So that deafening rush of air you may hear at (we hope) 8 o’clock on Tuesday? That’s just Democrats letting out the collective breath that we’ve been holding for weeks.

© 2008 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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