Soon this will all be over. No more campaigns, no more advertisements.
No more minute-by-minute social media posts or memes. No more awkward, sometimes heated exchanges over this candidate or that candidate. Foreign policy debates over coffee will soon be a thing of the past.
Moments like these come once every four years. Having survived the past three, going into Tuesday’s election has me feeling a myriad of emotions. The thoughts running around in my head soon won’t matter, though. Baring the appearance of a “hanging chad” pandemic, our presidential election process will be over in the next 48 hours.
The winner will give thanks, and the loser will too.
Trust me: I know how important it is to feel that you’ve made the right decision, especially when it comes to electing the president of the United States. That’s heavy.
In the spirit of full disclosure, I didn’t vote last year. Like many, I didn’t see the point. The outcome was plain to see. No Republican would win. The last thing our country needed was to see a “maverick” from Arizona follow a Texas “cowboy.”
While I liked a lot of what then-nominee Barack Obama was his promise. I knew he was potentially biting off more than he could chew in a mere four-year term. Though he didn’t create the rotted buffet that lay before him, he did volunteer to lead us through the clean up, and a great many of you elected him to do just that.
Yet here we sit. Some more bitter than the rest, some simply misinformed. All of us sit far less energized, certainly more divided too. We can blame the rhetoric, what has happened or even what should have happened. Either way you put it, we’re burnt out.
The results of Tuesday’s election couldn’t come any faster.
Speaking as someone who voted for Bush, twice, I can say that going into this election thinking only about what’s best for you and yours, is a mistake. This isn’t about you, it’s about all of us and it’s about us moving forward — as a united country — whether you want that or not.
Of the two candidates, one promises the progress and adaptation needed for the 21st century, while the other looks to fulfill the status quo from an outdated and proven to be flawed set of practices and ideals.
Those who voted for Obama in 2008 ought to be doing the same thing this year. You’re naïve to think that a mess decades in the making was going to be fixed in under four years. His detractors then are the same as they are now: They’re afraid of change and they want you to be too.
This election could very well be decided by a handful of swing states. In essence, it is left in the hands of a very few. The apathetic and undecided voters (whether they like it or not) can’t hide from their responsibility of choosing who should be leading us these next four years.
If you ask me, the clear choice is President Barack Obama.
Reach the columnist at jbfortne@asu.edu or follow him at @JOMOFO40.
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