I, for one, am glad we didn’t have to set the clocks back 70 years.
My husband and I grasped hands tightly as we watched the screen. Romney was in the lead and our eyes met, troubled, even fearful. Would the next three Supreme Court justices put laws on my body, on my child’s body, that rendered us baby machines worthy of death? Would the next president not only have nothing but disdain for the poor—but for half the entire population? Would he fight to make sure my friends can’t marry, that those who starve stay that way?
In many ways, this felt like a life-or-death election, and the relief we experienced when CBS declared President Obama winner—and Claire McCaskill winner in our state of Missouri—eased out of us like air from taut, painful balloons. We didn’t scream with joy so much as we had in 2008 but instead trembled with gratitude. Four more years never sounded so good.
