in which I discover that I have been profoundly mistaken

I lost a big bet to twotoedsloth just about eight years ago. Some years before that, I had predicted that the PRI would never allow itself to lose a presidential election in Mexico - certainly not in my lifetime. I believed that the historical patterns that held them in place were just too powerful to be overcome. Two Toes thought otherwise and we put a sizable amount of money on the question. I've never been so happy to lose $100 as I was that night, when priista President Ernesto Zedillo announced that he - and by extension the entire stinking corrupt bloated corpse of a political party that he represented - would respect the results of the election that brought the PAN to power.

I don't mean to say that President Fox and the PANista government turned out to be any good at all, mind you. Just that I thought the PRI could not be beaten.

If anyone had offered, this time last year, I would have bet much more against the possibility of a African-American with the middle name Hussein, who had lived a significant portion of his life outside the US, worked as a community organizer and written books without a ghostwriter, winning even a single primary. I would have acknowledged that sexism is a powerful force in US politics and daily life, but racism (so I would have said) is even more powerful.

And once again, I am overjoyed to have been proven wrong. The US is a different place than I thought it was. My fellow citizens are better people than I would have dared to hope. The strength of misogyny among voters in the US was not such a shock, though it pains me and no doubt pains Clinton's supporters even more.

Sorry guys.

But still. Wow. Just - wow.


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