My life was the election. For months I watched every Sunday morning political chat show, from "Meet the Press" to "Face the Nation." I flipped between the bloviators on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. Every night I lapped up the Daily Show, parched for the humor of Jon Stewart and his faux correspondents. I peeled through The Onion every week, as well as The Nation, The Progressive, The New Yorker, The New York Times. I surfed through Josh Marshall's Talking Points, Andrew Sullivan's Sinking Points, Wonkette's smutty points, Salon's fired-up War Room. I clicked on e-mail after e-mail, from MoveOn.org, the DNC, Concerts for Change, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, America Votes.
The last weekend before the election I joined a busload of New Yorkers and went to Ohio, canvassing voters and knocking on doors in greater Cleveland, often in the rain. It was a great feeling, trying to make a difference, but it didn't work. We lost. Big. I'm still in shock.
Adding insult to injury, I've had to listen to the Wednesday-morning armchair pundits – James Wolcott's "attack poodles" – second-guess the Democratic strategy. Kerry was "too patrician," he should have "expressed his religious faith more" but "been more himself" (a clear contradiction).
I actually think Kerry did a pretty good job. But there's a huge swath of religious people in this country who are just on a totally different frequency. And there's no reaching them.
In Ohio I met a sweet old lady who said she was voting for Bush. When I asked why, she said, "Because he's a Christian." I pointed out that Kerry was also a Christian. She replied (with the sweetest smile), "I don’t think he is."
You can't argue with that. It won't compute.
I say, don't bother. As Jon Stewart recently observed, it seems that the major issues – the Iraq war, jobs, security, healthcare – "were all trumped by the idea of dudes kissing." There's an ignorance and intolerance in this country that won’t be quickly or easily fixed. These people are not idiots, but they believe the literal truth of the Bible and they live in the "faith-based" reality, not a "reality-based" reality. They don't believe in science. As children they were all left behind. The education system in this country has produced a generation of willfully uninformed citizens. The good news is that gradually the schools will improve (perhaps not until well after Bush is out of office) and intolerance polls poorly among younger people. They don't much care either way about gun rights or "dudes kissing."
So I say, stay the course. As Kerry's Springsteen-penned campaign song put it, "No retreat, baby, no surrender." In the late 60s and early 70s, in response to the cultural and political divide in this country, there was a counter-culture. We need a new cultural insurgency. Already on board are our artistic brethren who stumped against Bush – a rich artistic spectrum ranging from Springsteen to Eminem, Errol Morris to Michael Moore, Jon Stewart to Al Franken, Edward Albee to Tony Kushner. We have actors, artists, writers, comedians, musicians, composers, dancers, designers. If this is truly two nations, then we've got the motherload of cultural talent, and I say let's put it to action.
I'm ready to join. I think it's the only thing that's going to get me through the next four years.
