I almost didn't blog about this. Number one ... because I don't care that much for politics ... and number two, I especially don't care for politics when it gets everyone all hot and bothered.
First let me say, I am not all hot and bothered! :) But I do feel the urge to blog.
I will now go out on a limb and risk public ridicule by saying that I'm a republican. Even with Obama fever everywhere, and republicans being the "uncool" thing to be, that is what I am. But I'm not an angry republican, so that must count for something!
The election last night was quite something! Like many people, I lasted up until about 11 p.m. and then got up early this morning to race to my television ... tripping on baby toys in the dark ... to find out what the world had been doing while I was sleeping. Quite a lot it seems!
I wish the very best for Obama, and will be praying for him as I would for any of our nation's leaders. I will admit, with no qualms, that McCain -- just another old white guy in a long line of old white guys dating back to the original George W. (that's Washington...) did NOT inspire me. But, conservative that I am, the very words "inspire" and "charisma" have made me a bit edgy lately.
I'm not saying it's not WONDERFUL to be inspired by our nation's leader ... who could wish for more? But as the past few months progressed, I came to realize that about 90% of the people I spoke to about Obama, (you 10% know who you are) were not able to articulate what it was they loved about the man, other than the warm fuzzy feeling he gave them. "He's just so inspiring!" (again, no argument there...) but when I would ask why or about what, it was never clearly explained to me. So in my mind, this massive unleashing of the warm fuzzies has me a bit skeptical.
I hope I'm dead wrong! I'm not really all that worked about it, since politics isn't high on my agenda of things to care about. I vote republican mostly because there are a few key issues I find I can't stray from even if I wanted to, but it is indeed amazing to see the massive high Obama seems to have induced on this country. I just hope the high can continue... Now yesterday in Michigan, we legalized marijuana, so we've got it covered here... but good luck to the rest of you states out there.... ;)
And now, some presidential fun facts!!* John Quincy Adams was the first president to be photographed.
* The 9th U.S. president William Henry Harrison was inaugurated on a bitterly cold day and gave the longest inauguration speech ever. The new president promptly caught a cold that soon developed into pneumonia. Harrison died exactly one month into his presidential term, the shortest in U.S. history.
* Franklin Pierce ordered the first bathtub for the White House. Many people were upset. They thought taking baths was not healthy and would make you sick.
* Andrew Johnson did not learn to read until he was 17 years old. His parents had been too poor to send him to school.
* Rutherford B. Hayes had the first telephone installed in the White House. Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, gave Hayes personal instructions on how to use it.
* James A. Garfield could write with both hands. Sometimes he amused people by writing Greek with one hand and Latin with the other.
* Warren G. Harding was the first president to give a speech over the radio.
* Calvin Coolidge liked to sit outside at night to think and relax. But so many people stopped and pointed at him that he finally gave up and sat inside.
* In warm weather, 6th president of the United States John Quincy Adams customarily went skinny-dipping in the Potomac River before dawn.
* The letter "S" comprises the full middle name of the 33rd president, Harry S. Truman. It represents two of his grandfathers, whose names both had "S" in them.
* 32nd president of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt was related, either by blood or by marriage, to 11 former presidents.
