Column: Election Over, See You Again In Two Years?
This story was written by Morgan Harvey, Daily Trojan
So you have finally voted; filled out your ballot, pulled the lever, got rid of those hanging and/or pregnant chads and marked that bubble for your favorite candidate. You helped elect the next leader of the free world for the next four years. You decided if gay people can marry or not. You either picked a winner or a loser generally always a loser if you voted for Nader. You fulfilled your civic duty. Congratulations.
But now what?
It is the day after Election Day, Nov. 5, and we are lost. We are sheep looking for our shepherd, looking for that next thing to follow and talk about in life.
For the last two years we, as a country, talked about nothing else except the presidential race. We forgot about the war in Iraq, the failing social security system and health care reform unless it pertained to how a particular candidate felt about the issue. We were never proactive about the issues, just, you know, chatted about them over coffee.
For two years the world slowed down, and since the primaries, it has stopped.
But now, more than a year after Sen. Barack Obama announced his candidacy in February 2007 and Sen. John McCain in April 2007, being wrapped up in Muslim middle names and P.O.W. records, weeding through facts of rumors and rumors of fact to choose a president, we have to resort to our old lives sans politics (because lets face it, the majority of the country and pop culture will no longer care as much about D.C. once someone new moves into the White House).
So now we have to go back, put our lives back in place and remember what life was like. What will we talk about? What will we do? What will run on the pages of this opinion section?
We can talk about the possibility of a lame duck president, without making jokes about how George W. Bush has been a lame duck president for eight years. Or we can be like The New York Times and write about what it will miss about President Bush.
From his Bushisms (Mr. Bushs battle with English has enriched our political language. It is no longer possible to say a person or a factor has been underestimated. Thanks to him, that word is now misunderestimated) to the lovely Laura Bush (I will miss Mrs. Bush not only for keeping me guessing but also for seeming like an intelligent and compassionate presence in a White House recognized for neither its intelligence nor its compassion).
Or about how Saturday Night Live will have to return to humorless skits and bad ratings with mediocre guest stars. Because lets face it, SNL is only funny during election years its political satire is impeccable but has recently fallen short on everything else. Sorry Tina Fey.
After a time of intense political banter, it is time to take a break and get silly at least until Inauguration Day when we have to think about politics again. Im not talking drunk sorority girl silly but floating on a sea of champagne and giggling about why Scotland Yard is in London, and not Scotland silly.
But instead of talking about important, life-changing issues, we will realistically, sit around and just talk about Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears.
Maybe the reason shes been wearing underwear recently isnt a comeback or sanity renewal, but because she knew she wouldnt get any press when Obama and McCain where in the celebrity race. Now, Perez Hilton can go back and trash Kristen Dunst like the good old times.
So Ill see you again in four years to have another political and intelligent conversation. Scratch that it will be more like two years, to give us two years to discuss the next candidates and issues.