Vindication

Last night was one of the best nights I've had since moving to the District.

It's so great to be here, in the middle of everything, during such a monumental turnover in government power. One thing I won't miss, though, is the constant commercials for the Virginia and Maryland Senate races. One of the reasons its so interesting to live here is because we are basically in three major media markets (DC, VA, MD) and so when I had campaigners asking me to vote for Jim Webb I also had television commercials trumpeting Michael Steele.

I got off of work and hurried home to watch the first results coming in. At 8:30 we left for the Death Cab for Cutie concert at Constitution Hall, which was just a few blocks from our apartment. This place isn't a bar, it's a real concert hall. My friend Karla, who is an intern here at the SPLC, met us. Death Cab is this quasi-emo new-age American rock band. Lots of piano and electronica but they have a tendency to build up to a screaming-guitar, banging-drum climax. It's great stuff. One of the best concerts I've ever seen.

When I tell you I was maybe 10 rows from the stage, and we only paid $40 for the tickets. It was an experience. I really think that Chris, Karla and I saw something very special last night. Those guys are extremely talented. They played some new stuff as well that I had never heard, which was interesting.

Dennis Mitchell (in California) kept me up to date on the election results, and the band's guitarist actually announced with Ben Cardin won the Maryland Senate seat.

We went home and got some dinner, I watched the election returns until about 2 a.m.. It's exciting that the Democrats took back the House, and I'm cautiously optimistic about the Senate. I really believe that 2-party rule is so much better in Washington. When Bush 43 ran in 2000, he talked about his legacy of bipartisanship as governor of Texas. Hopefully we can see some more of that here in Washington now that there is a Democrat-controlled House and maybe the Senate.

Congress hasn't really done much, particularly for students (who primarily read this blog), in a very long time. Raising the minimum wage, increasing federal oversight of higher education and restoring some of the grant and loan programs that have been cut are all on the table now. The younger generations are the soldiers in Iraq, and the ones (like myself) with friends there (or waiting to go). This election was a sign from the American people that we need an exit strategy, not a quick pull-out, but a way out.