November 9, 2012

• Bubble Outlier

  When last I wrote, I was battling some major election day anxiety about the potential outcome. Immediately after signing off the blog that afternoon, I found myself making phone calls for the Obama campaign. From my couch. It was kind of cool – I happened to see something on Facebook about a call app, clicked the button, and was instantly given the names/polling info/phone numbers for a series of voters in my state. I dialed in a way that would block my personal information (because I’m paranoid like that) and called with my script about getting to the polls to be heard. I only connected with about 4 human beings, all of whom had already voted. I left messages for many others, and I’m quite confident that not a single one of them needed my message to remind them to get out the vote. However, this task kept me busy and off the streets, so it’s all good.

  Fast forward a few hours and I was heavily imbibing the red wine and throwing back a healthy portion of chocolate. Stress drinking and eating, as I anxiously awaited the outcome – first with the entire family at my side, then with just the Mr. and the world of Facebook to keep me company.

  Man, did that drag on, or what?

  But, ultimately, my stress consumption turned into celebratory consumption, including a midnight toast in the street with a few new liberal friends in the ‘hood. We may live in a currently blue state, and in a currently blue county — but our precinct is most certainly red. I checked the local returns – it was 60/40 in Romney’s favor. So it’s kind of a weird dynamic – to have the minority opinion in a precinct who is itself in the minority for the entire county/state. Does that make sense? In my head it does, but it’s been a week heavy on consumption and lacking in sleep, so maybe it doesn’t translate into reality.

  The result of being in that situation is that you don’t really get a chance to celebrate. I’m not one to gloat — I’m a really good sport and not very competitive, so it’s not like I was looking to do the political equivalent of an end zone dance. I just kind of wanted to smile and feel relieved and proud with some folks who might be feeling the same way.

  After Obama’s last victory, there was an eerie avoidance of the subject the next day. It was as if we hadn’t even had an election, let alone one that put the first black president in the White House. I knew what was coming this year. Actually, I was hopeful it would be a repeat of avoidance and not negativity and disdain instead.

  It has been really nice to have a few newcomers to the Bubble who vote the same way as the Mr. and I do. They’re all younger than us, with much younger children. There hasn’t been a lot of turnover in the neighborhood since we moved in, so it has been fun to see all the newer families looking like younger versions of us, right down to the political signs on the lawn. That midnight toast was sweet, but I warned the other participants that there wouldn’t be a lot of toasting happening the next day.

  I was lucky enough to run into another new mom in the ‘hood at school the next morning – another person who votes like me. We had a quiet, unexpected celebration, which kind of made my day. I heard buzz about the local vibe being akin to folks receiving news of a post-apolcalyptic zombie invasion. Yikes. Lucky for me, I witnessed more avoidance than rage. Except for the old man in Starbucks who rudely announced to a store filled with women and minorities, “It PAINS me to buy this newspaper. I tell ya’, it truly PAINS me!” as he repeatedly smacked the newspaper on the counter in a ragey manner, near the cashier and while waiting for his tasty beverage. Here’s hoping it was a decaf.

  And so it is. Four more years, whether the Bubble people are ready to admit it (or accept it) or not.

  In your neck of the woods, what kind of reaction did people have to the election results?

  • 1:42 pm
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