What Election......

So now the hurricane and the storm have gone, and it's been a pleasant sunny day, what about the election? I almost missed that as well.  I was over on Staten Island on the day of the election, and didn't get back until they were well into counting. Everyone had said  it was too close to call but then suddenly it came up on the screen: 'CBS ANNOUNCES THAT OBAMA HAS WON.' This was a bit interesting; a TV station deciding the result of a national election - don't they have millions of bureaucrats to do that? So I flick over to Fox and they have a caption saying CBS ANNOUNCES OBAMA. Even odder that Fox should agree with anything that anyone else says. A grey haired man slumps in his seat and announces: 'there just aren't enough white people to go around', which is close to acknowledging defeat for a Fox correspondent.  Meanwhile, Mr Romney won't admit defeat, at least a defeat announced by a TV station (my first and only outbreak of sympathy with Romney hits me) and eventually I, and most of America, go to bed hoping that CBS is either right or wrong. In the morning, still waiting for Florida to declare (I think we're still waiting for Florida), it is finally agreed that Obama has won.

Since then the post-mortem.  55% of women, 80%+ of any ethnic minority you can think of,  a majority of under 30s, the great majority of people who earn less than $50,000 voted for Obama. Who didn't? White, old and male. Golly says the US media. This must mean that America has changed! Actually, the debate is an interesting one. The argument seems to centre on a realisation that the republicans might have been concentrating on issues that used to bother the majority of the people, which was white and middle class. That doesn't work now, because the majority of America is different, even with, by Republican standards, a moderate running. So there's a debate going on about where next for the Republicans. There's also a debate about how on earth it costs $6billion to elect a President.

In passing, two states also passed a law for same sex marriage and two for the legalisation of cannabis (for pain). Over 60 % of all voters wanted to retain 'Obamacare'. However, before anyone gets cautiously positive, I saw the back of a bus on Fifth Avenue which said: WHEN THERE IS A WAR BETWEEN THE CIVILISED MAN AND THE SAVAGE, CHOOSE THE CIVILISED MAN. SUPPORT OUR TROOPS. END THE JIHAD.  The English use 'back of the bus' to mean Ugly.

So it's been an interesting week. In my research, I have been mostly reading about how the 'people' of the 1880s fought to make sure they got a fair deal and, in particular, how they could do this through democratic means. They would have recognised the debates that have been going on this week - whether over hurricanes or elections - even if they couldn't recognise the world that their descendants lived in, and even if they would tell us that, whatever the problems, it is better in 2012 than 1880.

One more library day. The AUT corporates have arrived over the weekend for the AUT Foundation meeting on Tuesday. So I guess I'll need to spruce myself up, maybe have a shower and comb my hair. Take off my Professor identity and become the Deputy Vice Chancellor. Another glass of wine please.