Then-Senator Barack Obama in College Park two years ago.College Park is rioting, or at least talking about rioting, in support of President-elect Barack Obama's win. Everywhere I went, people were outside, yelling and celebrating. A party erupted in front of Harford Hall, where a number of student-athletes live, and everyone was dancing. I was disappointed to find that Route 1, our usual rioting spot, was pretty quiet, though one guy - a white guy - stood at the corner of Route 1 and Lehigh Road, holding up an American flag to the approving honks of every car that passed by.
"I'm gonna burn this campus down!" screamed a girl in a pink hoodie with Greek letters outside of Talbot Hall. Assuming she wanted to join our celebratory riot, I hooted in approval. "I hate Obama! Yeah, I want everybody to know!" she continued.
Yikes! I thought. "Hey, you still got 2012, right? Sarah Palin in 2012!" I yelled back.
The sorority girl and her friends stopped dead. "Uh, English?" she said, unable to understand me.
"That's right! This is Amurrica!" I replied.
"No! I'm a Republican!" the girl spits.
"YOU ARE IN MARYLAND!" I yell. And then she was gone.
I won't wax romantic about this election being a historic event, despite the fact that it was. But, for the first time in a long time, I really do feel like nothing will ever be the same in this country again.
UPDATE: Well, it's just my luck: I was an hour early to the real riot.
The sorority girl and her friends stopped dead. "Uh, English?" she said, unable to understand me.
"That's right! This is Amurrica!" I replied.
"No! I'm a Republican!" the girl spits.
"YOU ARE IN MARYLAND!" I yell. And then she was gone.
I won't wax romantic about this election being a historic event, despite the fact that it was. But, for the first time in a long time, I really do feel like nothing will ever be the same in this country again.
UPDATE: Well, it's just my luck: I was an hour early to the real riot.
2 comments:
There would have been a riot if Obama had beaten Duke.
Dan, you're right. Nothing will ever be quite the same, except plus ca change, c'est le meme chose ("the more things change, the more they stay the same").
MoCo property tax rates won't be going down. And there will be slots in Maryland. Thus, there isn't always change for the better.
That being said, like John McCain, I am an American first. The People have spoken with their votes and any true American loyal to the Constitution will honor that choice.
My dad once was joshing with a friend of his, who had a picture of Richard Nixon on the wall of his gas-station office. "Bob," says dad, "I thought you purely hated Dick Nixon".
"I do hate Richard Nixon," said Bob. "But that there's a picture of the President of the United States."
Rioting over an electoral victory would be un-American, and both senseless and provocatory.
If UM boneheads want to riot over league games, let 'em go right ahead and add confirmation to the widely-painted picture of Marylanders as inbred wackos and foreign agitators who will tip over into psychotic violence at the drop of a hat.
If they want to riot over electoral victories -- especially when it's their own candidate that won -- that's a great way to kick off civil war.
Maybe cooler heads realized that... and prevailed.
I thought very highly of Mr Obama's victory and keynote speech. However, I feel that in the interest of historical accuracy, the phrase that won WWII was not "si, se puede", but rather it was "Can do".
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