Poking Around in the Attic

....that's what coming back to this blog after all this time feels like. When I first began it, I had such high hopes. All incipient bloggers do. Everyone yearns to be the next Atrios or TPM or even, depending on your political bent, then next Instapundit. But most blogs end up with only a few posts before the proprietor realizes how much work it actually is and gives up.

(Mind you, it's only hard work if you try and write reasoned, well argued posts with a dash of humor and appropriate artwork. Simple political ranting with numerous mentions of Hitler, Marx or Stalin require much less brainpower and energy, as does WRITING IN ALL CAPS!!!!!!!)

Mine lasted a bit longer than most.

Most of the hits, though, were friends visiting, or people looking for a good recipe for home-made Bailey's Irish Cream. I'd get the occasional person who found the blog by chance and commented (which often made my day), and even got linked to on two other blogs. But it was a lot of work for very little recognition.... Still, for quite some time, I toiled on.

I must confess that I got distracted this year. Aging parents with medical problems take a toll on one's time, as does trying to make a living and keep up with commitments (in my case, charity work).

And keeping current with the news, which changes ever so fast during an election year, is work. I could have blogged about the election, but I didn't really have a horse in the race.

It's not that I didn't care who was elected.

I cared deeply.

It's just that I'm a lefty, with strong opinions on single payer, civil liberties and the war, and the candidates who most strongly agreed with me dropped out early in the primary season. I liked both Hillary and Obama, but both are fairly centrist, and I didn't much care which one won. I was voting Democratic one way or another.

Don't get me wrong. I like Obama. And I hope he can unite this country and do wonderful things. It's just that my generation has a long history of being disappointed by politicians (more so if you follow Ukrainian politics), and we don't like to get our hopes up. It hurts too much when they're dashed to smithereens.

I worked to get him elected. I proselytized via e-mail and in person, did GOTV work and canvassing. I passed out lawn signs and bumper stickers in my neighborhood. And I even worked in Precinct 9 of West Bloomfield as an election inspector (poll worker) from 6 AM to 10 PM on election day to help keep the vote honest.

I was at our local Obama headquarters on election night after the polls had closed. The excitement there was enough to give anyone a contact high. We watched one state after another turn blue. I knew we had won when Pennsylvania was called for Obama. But there was still nothing like the thrill of hearing it announced at 11 PM, of seeing John McCain concede (graciously, for a change) and of watching a million people in Chicago greet their new president. It brought tears to my eyes and hope to my jaded heart.......



So I may tidy up here a bit and start adding some new posts, now that things are quieting down. My father is recovering well from his third open heart surgery (valve replacement at the age of 82--he's one tough patient!), the world has been righted a bit, and we've stepped away from the edge of the political abyss. I'm starting to feel as though I can stop and take a breath at last.