Happy New Year!

One year ago, Barack Obama was a distant challenger to the Clinton juggernaut. John McCain was dead in the water, seemingly unable to compete with the heavyweights like Giuliani, Huckabee, and Romney. No one had heard of Sarah Palin. Other things that were different at the start of 2008:

We had also never considered to what extent rural Americans cling to their weapons and their faith.
We might have thought that Scranton was not a hell hole.
We were not intimately familiar with how many houses the McCains own, nor who Senator Obama's preacher was.
We assumed that the town of Unity, New Hampshire had just picked a silly name for their community.
Our country only had one presidential seal.
The Iraq War was going to decide this race.
Bloomberg was seen as a serious presidential contender who could reshape the electoral landscape.
Team of Rivals was just another book.
Three untalented, unattractive women had not yet discovered their penchant for describing McCain-centric lyrics with weird green screen effects.
Hillary Clinton was a divisive figure, hated by most non-Democrats and far from a national symbol of female empowerment.
None of us could pronounce or spell Blagojevich.
Tim Russert still hosted Meet the Press every Sunday morning.
Fist bumps were in no way associated with terrorist activity.
The New Yorker didn't face accusations of racism and bigotry.
Our leaders hadn't yet accused us of whining about the economic crisis.
Our President had not yet come face to face with flying footwear.
Caroline Kennedy was the private Kennedy who didn't want to get involved in national politics.
Barack Obama's testicles were not in danger because of Jesse Jackson.
The public only knew about one of Vito Fossella's families.
None of us had considered whether Russia was visible from American territory.
Small town mayors didn't consider their presidential prospects.
Bill Richardson was beardless.
John Edwards had a political future.
Arugula was not a political issue.
The idea of George W. Bush fighting desperately against his own party and against every Capitalist ideal imaginable was laughable at best.
The idea of George W. Bush giving corporate CEOs even more money was, I suppose, less laughable.
Eliot Spitzer was still the governor of New York State and had a bright future.
Ted Stevens was not awaiting the prospect of spending his final days in prison.
There weren't "real" parts of America.
Joe the Plumber was just a plumber.
John McCain was still seen as a maverick.

And, of course, hope and change did not appear to be imminent. With the Bush years coming to a rapid close, and 4 years of Democratic leadership waiting in the wings, here's hoping that 2009 will be a year to remember.

Have a safe night!