Post-election breath

So, the great thing about living in DC is that we have such a strong relationship with politics. Particularly the (mostly white) professional population that comes from all far-flung parts of the US to work in federal government, non-profits, think-tanks, and the like tend to be very highly geeky and obsessed with politics.  The rest of the city natives (mostly black) have shown wholehearted support for Obama, in keeping with the traditional support for the Democratic party in DC for ages, and have been energetically vocal.  DC went for Obama with 91.7%.  I'm surprised it was that low.

Conversations in coffee shops, on the Metro, in bars, and on... blogs... have obsessively followed every detail of the campaigns.  Some of it is definitely connected to individuals hoping that their jobs will be secure - from political positions to non-political civil servants afraid of politicians pushing federal spending cuts that would jeopardize their positions and career trajectories.  Bring a bunch of political news junkies together and... well... it's not surprising that people haven't talked about much anything else.  We're a company town.

And more importantly and more humorously, I invite you to White People Mourning Romney.  While I would probably look like one of these folks had I been backing someone who didn't win, I didn't. So I find it highly amusing.

The local races were more interesting, with upsets, thinly veiled threats against the mayor-for-life in the ballot initiatives, and plenty of local drama. Much more interesting than most of the other elections that are completely decided during the Democratic primary, with some exceptions for races with Statehood Green candidates, it's usually a landslide for most everything.