Elections--then and now

Egbert and I were very excited about the outcome of the election. He is a quick thinker and before the election when a classmate remarked that Obama was not experienced enough to be president, Egbert pointed out that the minimum age to be president was "35, not 75."

On the day of the election, I was driving through my congressional district visiting polls and checking that there were no problems. It was a great day--raining constantly, but with Democrats everywhere full of an excitement I've not seen before. I called my mom and told her I thought Obama was going to win Virginia, just based on that excitement. I also spoke to Egbert, who told me he felt happy and sad at the same time: happy because he thought Obama would win, but sad because he might not.

I remembered the day after the election in '04-- Egbert refused to acknowledge Bush's win. He was sure that Bush hadn’t won the election, but was only “winning” it, as he said the votes from all the people in the whole country can’t be counted in one day. He even said, of his Bush-supporting teacher, “won’t Alma be embarrassed when Kerry wins?”

Back then, he said that there was no point in protesting against the war, because the war would only end when “George W. Bush” is no longer president. Even George W. Bush doesn’t know what it would take to change his mind, he says. He had Bush pegged as someone who never changed his mind, even when proven wrong on an issue: When he would change his own mind about something, and was called on it, he'd say wearily, “look, I’m not George W. Bush, ok? I do change my mind sometimes.”