The presidential election of 2012 is over. Hallelujah! I am sure most of us are more than ready to close the door on the ugliness, mud slinging and tedious ads.
Judging from the yard signs around Columbus and the Golden Triangle, not to mention the final vote count, most locals supported the Republican candidates. I imagine there is much disappointment now. It’s all over but “the weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Luke 13:28).
Those whose candidates lost have reason to be discontented. The vote was so very close that some might have been expecting a repeat of the chad debacle of the 2000 presidential election. However, it is official, President Barack Obama has been elected to a second term.
Both sides are calling for a sort of truce, promising to work together to get this country back on the right track. Cross your fingers.
I wonder why anyone would want to be president of the United States? It is a Herculean job, inspiring more criticism and wicked jabs than a cat-fight at a beauty pageant.
The U.S. is in a financial meltdown. Our East Coast has been drowned, then covered in a blizzard. (I can honestly say to those people, “I feel your pain.”) Americans are dying from poverty, because they have no health care. These are just a few of the problems within our borders. Add in all of the foreign crises, and there is good reason for the leader of the free world to crawl under his desk in a fetal position. For some reason, none ever have.
If this country were a corporation, there would probably be a CEO for domestic issues and one for foreign troubles. That, of course, would never work. So, we muddle through with the system that we have, one that has worked for over 200 years.
Around here, we will get little relief from the political bickering. Our mayoral and city council elections come up next year. We will most likely start seeing yard signs and posturing before our Christmas décor is stored away. There are rumors about an unexpected candidate or two. Add to that dissatisfaction with the current officeholders (in some circles), and it looks as if we will have a very interesting year ahead.
I truly hope everyone “plays nice” in those campaigns. But I also hope to lose 50 pounds and drive a flying car before I die. The “audacity” of my hope has a bad track record.
For the next month or two, there is the promise of television without political ads, and a holiday season where the only thing we have to decide on is what type of pies we will bake. (Well, for those of you who bake; for me it will be what type to buy at the grocery’s bakery counter.)
I will end with a special note of thanks for all who have served this country in the military. Happy Veterans Day! You are loved and appreciated.
Adele Elliott, a New Orleans native, moved to Columbus after Hurricane Katrina.
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