Watching History in Boise, Idaho
Tonight I’m sitting in a hotel room in Boise, Idaho, experiencing a moment I’ll likely be telling people about decades from now. Friends of mine are texting and IMing me to tell me about the bars and parties they are at, jumping up and down and hugging each other and tearing up and celebrating this with friends. Part of me is sad to be far from all of that, to be experiencing this alone. But really- this is the best place I could be for this moment. Because I’m spending tonight in what I think of as the deepest of red states – and I’m hoping tonight is when we stop thinking in those terms.

For me at least- that’s why tonight is so meaningful.

The political and economic changes that this will bring are important. The change in how this country will be perceived is going to have ripple effects for a long long time. The election of our first African- American president- I can’t possibly put into words just how fundamental a chance in our national culture that represents, and that alone makes this one of those moments that students of American history will be talking about one hundred years from now.

But for me, more then anything, tonight is about the hope that we can move beyond the, red state-blue state, win 51% and screw the other 49%, style of politics. That’s been what really got me excited about Obama, what brought me over from just thinking he was the best chance to stop Clinton to actually believing in him and carrying me over into full on kool-aid drinking Obamamania. Everyone talks about ending divisive politics, but everything he did attested to his commitment to that- from the way he ran the campaign to how he engaged McCain to his books, to his speeches. He questioned the policies and strategies of his opponents, without once questioning their motives, or their patriotism. He assumed that those who agreed with him had integrity, avoiding the kind of tactics that leads Republicans to label those who disagree on how best to fight terrorism as disloyal, or leads Democrats to claim Republicans are racist because they honestly disagree on how best to combat poverty.

Without a doubt, the most painful, offensive moments of this campaign where those when Palin or McCain or their surrogates would talk about “the real America” of which I and my family and my community and my church most certainly are not members. While I’m sure you can spin these election results to justify almost any explanation of why this happened, a part of me truly believes that this night is in some small way a rejection of those politics of division. That people saw in Obama a way out of that kind of politics, and rejected McCain along with it.

We’re not going to be one big family, our nation has always had factions, and always will. But it seems the cycle is that every now and then they calcify and harden, until debates become conflicts, until a critical mass is reached and the divisions soften and the cycle begins again. That sentiment echoed loud and clear through Obama’s speech, but perhaps even more significantly, it was a central theme of the incredibly gracious speech McCain gave.

I think the GOP is now at a crossroads. They can choose to go deeper into division, to rail against how the election was stolen by Acorn and the media, and spent the next 4 years indulging in their paranoid fantasies of Ayers and Wright stalking the halls of the White House, looking for ways to betray America. In short, they can make the mistakes the Democrats made in 2000, when our hatred for Bush and our disdain for anyone stupid enough to vote for him led us into election defeat after defeat. Strategically it might be great if the Republicans made that same mistake- nominating Palin in 2012 for instance would all but guarantee President Obama a 2nd term. But I’d hate to see what that would do to our country.

So that’s one path the GOP could take. The other is to be a loyal opposition. To fight for their agenda, and attempt to forestall Obama’s, but to act in the knowledge that their disagreement is over policies and tactics, the disagreements of honorable people, all trying to help the country, with different ideas of how to do that. They can take up the gauntlet and the challenge that McCain threw down before them with his speech tonight, and give Obama a chance to live up to his promises to be a president of the whole nation.

I don’t expect the GOP to roll over and play dead- they are in opposition to the president and the majority of Congress and if the only way they can exert influence is through a filibuster or something similar- that’s within their rights. That’s how the system is supposed to work. But it works when we are all Americans, even if we disagree. Not when some of us are Real Americans and the rest are just Hollywood elites, or intellectual snobs.

Obama’s words hit me, because I was as bad as any in how easily I fell into that red state-blue state divide. I’ve lived my entire life in either New York or California, with little to no exposure to the “fly-over states” But these last few years, and the work I’ve been doing which has taken me to so many different areas I might never have gone to has really opened my eyes. It’s given me the chance to go deep into red states, both to find the little pockets of blue that you find here and there, as well as to talk to people with politics and ideas so very different then mine- but whose values aren’t that different.

Earlier today I landed in Boise, Idaho and before coming to the hotel I’m at now, I had dinner with two of the people who help make Planned Parenthood of Idaho run. Dedicated activists, proudly liberal, and they didn’t talk about being alone in a conservative sea, abut being strangers in a strange land. They talked about how much they loved Idaho, their home, even if they didn’t agree with other residents in regard to politics.

A few minutes after Obama’s victory was announced I stepped out of my room and went to the front desk to get some soda and a snack. It’s a quiet night and the woman behind the desk was watching the election results while talking to a friend about it on the phone- and was in tears. Not the tears of many of my friends- though she quickly put the phone down when I came into view, I heard enough to realize she was crying because she was so upset that McCain had lost.

I’m hopeful tonight because I believe Obama will be the president of all the people I’ve met here in Idaho, on every side- as well as all those I know back in New York, and everyone in between.