NYT: Obama Is Up, and Fans Fear That Jinxes It (warning - this article may closely resemble you)

[Pirate Smile]

Obama Is Up, and Fans Fear That Jinxes It

By MICHAEL POWELL
Published: October 31, 2008

....
Almost always, Mr. Downs, 53, ends with Mr. Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, ahead, which should please this confirmed liberal and profound Obama fan. But just as often he feels worried.
“Look, I have this sense of impending doom; we’ve had a couple of elections stolen already,” Mr. Downs said. “The only thing worse than losing is to think that you’re going to win and then lose.”
He considers that prospect and mutters, almost involuntarily, “Oh, God.”

To talk with left-leaning Democrats in New Hope, San Francisco or Miami Beach, to drill deep into their id, is to stand at the intersection of Liberal and High Anxiety.
Right now, more than a few are having a these-polls-are-too-good-to-be-true, we-still-could-lose-this-election moment. Their consuming and possibly over-caffeinated worry is that their prayers and nightly phone calls to undecided voters in Toledo, Ohio, notwithstanding, Mr. Obama might fall short on Election Day.

...
Pre-election rituals are much the same, from Oberlin, Ohio, to San Francisco. Many liberals describe waking up in the predawn, padding to the kitchen, firing up the coffeemaker and logging on before the children wake up. Lisa Serizawa, 44, of San Francisco leaps from site to site, from national newspapers to one in Ohio to another in Pennsylvania, then a blur of CNN, polling sites, and whatever.
“I just want reassurance; or is it a heads-up?” Ms. Serizawa said. “I’m cautiously, cautiously optimistic. Though I worry: Am I going to be hurt again?”

...
For many liberals, the chance to elect Mr. Obama, who would be the nation’s first black president, gives the United States a second chance to walk across the stage of world history. (Which also makes the possibility of his loss unspeakably more depressing; given his present lead in every poll, many liberals fear that race will explain any defeat.)

...
Ellen Beth Bellet, a tax lawyer in Miami and an ardent liberal, confesses to being electorally obsessed. (She recently vacationed with a friend who threatened to machine gun the hotel television if Ms. Bellet did not shut off CNN.)
But of late a curious calm has descended. “I wrote an e-mail to a friend and said, ‘I’m afraid to put this in writing, but I’m really excited about the way this is going,’ ” Ms. Bellet said.
Within minutes, the phone rang; her friend was very worried about Mr. Obama’s prospects. “Don’t say that!” the friend said. “No, no, no. What were you thinking? We can’t go there yet!”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/01/us/politics/01angst.html?hp

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

1. Fans?

You know I absolutely hate it when the election of the president of the United States is described like it's a sports event.

I don't think this describes anyone I know that is an Obama supporter very well. Hell yes, we're worried. We're not worried that Obama won't win. We're worried that the election will be stolen and for good reason. We don't trust the system to count the votes honestly, or to even allow people who have the right to vote, to actually vote.

Finally, what's with the description calling all Obama supporters "liberals" (with a lower-case L). What's wrong with calling us "Democrats" or even "Americans who support Obama"? Oh, that's right, we're not REAL Americans are we? And of course, the only reason for a "liberal" to be a "fan" of Obama is because we want to walk across the stage of world history by electing a black man. Not because Obama is a better choice for president, because he has a better handle on the economy, the war, will name supreme court justices that are reasonable.

This article pisses me off.

[pnwmom]

3. All of the people there are worrying the same thing you are:

that the election will be stolen. The stolen elections of 2000 and 2004 make us unwilling to trust even poll numbers that have been so consistently good for at least the last month.

"Certainly, national and swing state polls suggest that Democrats might allow themselves a deep breath or two. But liberals are not inclined to relax, given the circumstances of their last two defeats. Hanging chad, the Supreme Court decisions, and Florida and Ohio’s electoral problems: it is a lifetime of agita to staunch Democrats. The prospect of success now comes scented with dread."

Obviously, these people all think Obama should be elected because he would make an infinitely better choice for President. If you are pissed off by the article, I think it might be more of a sign of your own state of tension and irritability right now than anything else.

[Berry Cool]

5. Don't get too hung up on that word. Don't get mad at the whole article because of the headline,

which was written by someone else, anyway.

It may have been the only one that fit the space available for the headline in the print edition. "Supporters" may have taken up too much space. Same with "liberals" and definitely "Americans who support Obama." Come on.

Headline writing is a very difficult job--and I say that as someone wh's done it. To try to come up with something that fairly summarizes the story, is accurate and fair, and FITS THE SPACE ALLOTTED--it's a brain-teaser.

Edited to say: And the reference to a "confirmed Obama fan" in the article? That may be how the man described himself.

[FrenchieCat]

2. Maybe they should do an expose on the Associated Press and what a fucking

joke it has become.

That would be time well spent.

Oh....it's Michael Powell. Forget about it then.

[barack the house]

4. Yes, what we focus on we get more of so focus on winning doing all humanly possible to make it >

possible really. Any thought given to the reverse is wasted energy.

[indie_voter]

6. this article resembles me...n/t

[Mojorabbit]

8. me too nt

[endelfam]

7. I understand exactly how these people feel....

I am 61 years old and it's been a long, loooong time since I've felt this excited about an election. Yet I am just so afraid it will be stolen from us. My head says we are in a good position. My heart says to be afraid.

[BlooInBloo]

9. Doesn't resemble me in the least. But it does resemble a lot of DU fear-mongers.