November 8--Oh, What A Relief It Is!!!

I was surprised by how much better I felt when the election was called for Biden. It was as if something was constantly grating on my nerves for the last four years with acute flare-ups whenever that Great Dolt said or did something just a bit more grating. From the reactions on the news I guess a lot of others felt the same way.

But lurking behind the relief is the realization that, as one of the commentators reminded his listeners, every other person you see voted for #45. That is what it means when the popular vote was 74+million for Biden and 70+million for #45. Many pundits keep referring to Trumpism (damn how painful it is to type anything containing his name!) and they need to stop because the man was not the disease but the symptom of a deeper malady infecting society. Calling it by his name puts the focus in the wrong place and prevents asking exactly why so many people approve of him and what he does. David Kaiser has an interesting preliminary analysis of the results

November 9

Continuing the thoughts from yesterday, sort of:

I can't remember celebrations like we have seen for the defeat of any other sitting president. Not for Lyndon Johnson who declined to run for second term because of Viet Nam. Not for the resignation of Richard Nixon. Not for the defeat of Jimmy Carter or George H.W. Bush. I have never seen the street-dancing joy of the last couple of days.

On the other hand, I haven't seen the absolute refusal to accept the results of an election that has been run as openly and transparently as this one has; often under the scrutiny of both the public and the press. One of the "man on the street" interviewees insisted that fraud permeated the whole process. Another insisted that ballots had been shipped in from China. A blogger whose posts I frequently read presented the most rational argument for not accepting the results: the results haven't been certified by the states yet and the news media can say what they want. While technically correct and can be taken a step further since the results aren't final until the votes of the electors is counted by the congress. But while we have seen a few "Dewey Defeats Truman" moments for the news media.

In the mean time--the COVID numbers in this country have reached unimaginable highs. Some 10million Americans have tested positive. The number of cases per day has reached 100K several days over the last week while the number of deaths exceeded 1000 per day and the total deaths to date are almost 240K. One snippet this morning noted that, to date, 1 person for every 441 Americans have contracted the virus with more to come. Biden is naming a COVID advisory panel but I wonder what he and his administration can do. But then perhaps just setting a new tone will go a long way. Much that should be done has to be done at the local level. We can just wait and see. A "bully pulpit" can do a lot if used to send a coherent message.

On a sad note, the news reported that Alex Trebek of Jeopardy died yesterday. Jeopardy has been a staple of our afternoon TV watching and we will miss Trebek. Wonder who will replace him.