So election day is finally here. At last, our long national nightmare is about to be over.
And a new long national nightmare is about to begin. No matter who ends up being elected today.
Assuming, of course, that the election is actually over today.
For some time now I've been checking and re-checking the electoral college map for some way that McCain can pull this off. His chances are grim, indeed, but not completely lost.
The most optimistic (yet still halfway reasonable) scenario that I've been able to come up with has McCain tied with Obama 269-269 at the end of the day. That would, of course, throw the election to the House of Representatives, in the new Congress, wherein each state delegation would get one vote. So everything there would depend upon how many states have majority-Republican delegations. And we won't know that until after the election, as well.
As I said, that's the optimistic but reasonable assumption about everything breaking McCain's way, and it ends in a tie. But, that scenario leaves out a few key states that are leaning Blue but just might break Red after all.
Including my own state of Nevada, where I'm about to go cast my vote.
I've struggled with this since the convention over the summer. The imperative for me is that the Democrats not hold power throughout the government -- as I've said before, mixed government is best for the country. Congress is hopelessly lost to the Democrats, so Obama can't be elected without, as I said above, a new long national nightmare to begin.
But, as much as I admired McCain 2000, can I really vote for McCain 2008? He's a different candidate than he was 8 years ago.
In discussing this with my boss a few weeks back, when I told him I couldn't vote for Obama, he asked if I was then just not going to vote. It's an interesting thought. Nevada offers a choice of "None of the Above" in our elections, so I could actually vote against Obama without voting for anyone else. It's an intriguing possibility.
But, fundamentally, it'd be a selfish choice. Voting "None of the Above" might ease my conscience, but it's as bad (or worse) than Obama voting "Present" on all those tough decisions. Yes, the choices this year suck, but "None of the Above" isn't a viable option. "None of the Above" has less chance than Bob Barr or Ralph Nader of being elected President.
One way or another, either Barack Obama or John McCain is going to be the next President of the United States. Voting for anyone (or anything) other than those two is voting to have someone else make the call, period.
I wasn't going to vote for Obama in any event, so voting "Nobody" doesn't hurt his chances in any way. Withholding my vote for McCain in fact would help Obama's chances.
As I said, the choices this year suck, as they have for many years past. The next few years are going to suck, no matter who is ultimately elected. But who in the next four years has the greater potential to do more long-term damage to the country? With a compliant Congress, there's no question that Obama is that man. I may not be able to stop him, but I'll be damned if I'm going to help him into office.
So, I'll be holding my nose and voting for McCain regardless. I don't think it'll make much difference in the big picture, but it might. And at least I'll have done whatever I could to try to prevent that new nightmare from happening, however futile the attempt.
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