Every now and then, throughout the workday, I'll think: We've got this election licked. I imagine the Obama acceptance speech, the inaugural address, the relief and elation and hope I will feel when the election is called on the night of Nov. 4th.And then in the next instance, I'll be racked with fear about a last minute McCain surge, or about the Bradley effect or voter suppression or unaccountable Diebold voting machines. I don't so much get butterflies in my stomach so much as weevils chasing snakes chasing butterflies.
I have full-on Information Sickness. I can't stop checking blogs and polls and the New York Times to see what's happening, and no amount of information satisfies the hunger for more information, and very little of all this actually amounts to anything.
Yesterday I went to the liquor store to buy a bottle of champagne to have on hand for an Obama victory, but I couldn't bring myself to buy one. It felt like a jinx, and I'm not a person prone to superstition, typically. I had to call my father and ask him to buy me a bottle of champagne, which somehow felt like it wasn't a jinx, since it was a gift rather than something I was getting myself in anticipation of a desired outcome.
There may be other nervous Democrats out there, so in the interest of "paying it forward," I will make a pledge to the first commentor who's game for it: I will be happy to give you -- as a gift -- a bottle of champagne. It will be roughly equivalent in value and quality to the bottle I received (Korbell, if I remember correctly) and can be used for whatever celebration you may want to engage in over the next couple of weeks. Two caveats :
1. You must be a supporter of Barack Obama and the Democratic Party (or be willing to switch your vote for champagne).
2. You must live in the Milwaukee area or have a liquor store in your area that would be able to accept a credit card charge over the phone. I'm not shipping nothin'.
3. You must be willing to do this same thing for someone else.
Non-alcoholic champagne makes a perfectly fine substitution, if you like.
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5 comments:
Sign me up. I thought I had a bottle in the fridge, but it was left over N.A. stuff from Erin's Pregnancy. I can't bring myself to buy one for myself. I know (errr....hopefully) I will be popping it as soon as Virginia and Pennsylvania goes Big Blue I will pop it, but I cannot jinx it.
WHo's next in this twisted version of an alcoholic change letter?
Joel:
I will get a bottle of the bubbly to you prior to Nov. 4th (the day Democrats vote).
Just in case anything great happens.
It sounds to me like you might be a little more consumed by this election than is healthy. Maybe you should consider going back to the liquor store and instead of buying champagne, get yourself a bottle of Boone's Farm instead (I'm partial to the peach flavor myself), go home, pop in an episode of Mad Men, drink youself into a stupor and relax for a little while. Your chosen candidate is doing fine and your losing sleep isn't going to do anybody any good.
Reasons I am nervous, despite the polls:
I have never been so fervent a supporter of a candidate for president before. I am inclined to favor democrats, but I've never had the experience before of really wanting -- perhaps needing -- a particular candidate to win. (Compare to 2004, when I -- like many others -- was voting in opposition rather than in support.)
Secondly, I'm reasonably certain the last two elections got stolt. Polls can be wrong and candidates can surge, and these are things I'm also nervous about, but I'm particularly worried about the sort of willed and possibly unlawful delivery of the previous two presidential contests.
I bought my bottle to gift down. If no one else volunteers, does that mean I can and/or need to drink both bottles?
Please say yes, so I can offer up evidence to Erin that this is, in fact, mandatory with all elections, and I am just following the rules laid down by our fore-fathers (namely Bukowski and Wilde).
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