The Morning After

Super Tuesday took a backseat to weather yesterday in Tennessee. The weather folks broke into TV programming at 4:30, and they broadcast continuously until past the time I finally gave in and went to sleep at 11.

As for the weather, it’s been bad, and yes, that’s an understatement. The last death toll I saw was 44, with possibly more reports coming in. That accounts for the storms that hit from Arkansas through Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky. The storm that hit while I was in the basement is the one that hit the shopping mall in SW Memphis and took about two lives. It was a different cell that moved up to Jackson, TN and trapped the students in the dorm there.

On the one side, the storms didn’t hit here until after 4:30. Thus, there was no need in hindsight to close schools early. But they knew this was going to be big. I cannot find fault with those decisions.

And as always, talking to people out of the area brings some interesting things. One friend from the north said that what we were experiencing here “must be the milder version” of the heavy snowfall they had—ours was just rain and wind. Ahem. Milder? Tornados? Granted, to be fair, they were expecting possible record snowfall in a twenty-four hour period. But milder?

I talked to another yesterday, and when asked how I was, I responded, “Good. It’s finally quieter around here; we just had several tornados around.” The response was “oh, yes, they forecast rain for us too.” The conversation then was taken to the topic of the need for rain in that area and what the weather forecast was. Yes, indeed, let’s make this all about you, forgetting the t-o-r-n-a-d-o-s that hit here. Sigh.

In the light of day, the weather service will be out figuring out how many twisters there were and their relative strength. Insurance guys, no doubt, will be very busy in the area for weeks to come. It’s sad and devastating for so many people. But I am so grateful for our warning systems and sirens. (The sirens in my county screamed for almost two hours straight between 4:45 & 6:45 then again from 8:45 until 9:15.)

As for here last night, it was an odd night for me---quite surreal. I wanted to stay on the weather coverage, but as soon as we left the basement, I also wanted to know about results coming in from around the country.

For almost a year, I’ve said that I would vote for Obama in the primary and Clinton in the general election. At this point, though, I might be casting another vote for Obama come November!

The delegate count is interesting to watch. I’m frustrated with the Super Delegates, though. Will they really think about electability in November? Or is it just a chance for some face time? And of course, these delegates are why it’s about to be mathematically impossible for anyone but McCain to get the republican nomination. Interesting, indeed.

Anyway, I finally turned in, but still kept the TV on for a little while. I wanted to stay up to see what California reported, but as expected, it was too close to call at that time. But I did stay up to watch Obama’s speech. Again, I’m impressed with the message: actually unite the United States. There’s a wonderful hope in his speech, and yes, I do believe in it. I do believe that we can achieve things not before thought possible—with the right leadership.