Charles Brown wrote:
CB: Yep, especially since such people are the new left. Old left meet the new left.
I think this describes the people on the street better:
Some notes and thoughts: ---Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT is known as a seat of the counterculture in the northeast, i.e. not a place you expect jingo activity. Well I was surprised to hear my close friends on that campus tell me of the scene there election night. When the election was called the students gathered in an open hill and field and chanted - among other things - "USA, USA, USA, USA" and in the student center they all spontaneously joined in and sang the national anthem "oh say can you see". This was very suprising, u would never expect to hear such things at Wesleyan, they would seem to be more common at a Mccain/Palin rally. Here is a blog with pics of the celebration ( http://wesleying.blogspot.com/2008/11/last-nights-euphoria.html ), note the two students draped in the american flag and other students hanging one from a balcony, something that is again highly abnormal at this campus. The way they are partying is exactly like Spring Weekend or if The New York Yankees won the world series as someone else pointed out. ---To me, the fact that such white uppper middle class students who are normally known for being counterculture and 'against' the system and are now running around like jingos with Amerikkkan flags and singing the national anthem is indicative of the role that Obama is playing for U.S. imperialism, bringing those into the fold who had felt left out in the cold. Obama is truly a kinder and gentler facade for capitalism, something these left liberals can truly be proud of. ---Similar jubilation (as at Wesleyan) was reported at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. However in the main cities of CT all reports that came to me expressed nothing of the sort taking place in working class neighborhoods and "the hood" (areas dominated by minorities known for poverty and violence). As one close friend of mine who lives in "the hood" in Hartford told me, "it was just another regular night here." In CT at least, there seemed to be a marked difference in celebration between the ascendent middle class layers and solidly working class and poor urban areas. ---My little sister was at the only womens' prison yesterday doing educational work and a woman there who was ecstatic that Obama was elected pulled her to the side and said "hey when you get home can you check Obama's website and tell me what he's going to do for 'long-termers' [people with long jail sentences]"... my sister was destraught because there is nothing for this prisoner from Obama, and she'll have to break the news to this prisoner when she returns next week. In Solidarity, Sky Keyes
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