If I were an illustrator, I would create cartoons to represent people like me (Obama voters) before and after Tuesday’s historic election. Since I cannot draw to save my soul, however, I shall try to describe what my pictures would look like.

THE “BEFORE ” CARTOON. Group A—several wealthy, white, sexist, racist, homophobic, suit-wearing men. Group B–a straight woman, a same-sex couple with a child, a senior living below the poverty line, a transgender woman, a recent Mexican immigrant, an African American laborer, and a college student. Picture Group A grabbing Group B in a stranglehold and threatening to squeeze the life and love right out of them. Group B’s faces are etched with worry that their rights and freedoms will be stripped away and their humanity exposed for the kill. Dark gray clouds hang over their heads. The caption for this cartoon reads, “The gathering storm?”

On Election Day, Group B votes—some may even volunteer to get out the vote or to monitor polling places—and then they bite their nails to the quick waiting for the returns to roll in, as if waiting for their execution. They fret when they hear reports of voting snafus, of possible vote tampering, of voter suppression. They say to themselves, if we lose this thing, we can begin to kiss our democracy goodbye.

Group B have put all their plans, hopes, dreams, and wishes into limbo for what feels like days and weeks while the electorate waits to vote and for the votes to be counted. The instant 24/7 media are doing everything in their power to make the presidential contest into a horse race (they do have to sell advertising, after all), and Romney and his gazillionaire friends have outspent Obama and his grassroots supporters consistently for months, funding ads that play up the horrors of the Obama administration and about Barack Obama himself, spreading lies about his record, lies about what a second Obama term would mean for the world, and even lies about where to go to vote on Election Day. Group B cannot think beyond Election Day, when they will learn whether America has elected a government that cares about them or one that campaigned on restricting their rights, jeopardizing their Social Security, and marginalizing them even further—in short, whether January will see the renewal of caring leadership in Washington or the beginning of a punishing, narrow-minded, provincial, corporation-favoring, repressive, regressive one.

ELECTION DAY.

• The president wins 332 electoral votes, to Romney’s 206.
• Obama wins the popular vote. He is only the second Democratic president in American history to win a popular majority (the first was FDR).
• The 113th Congress will have the most female members ever, as women pick up one in three new seats.
• Hawaii picks up America’s first Asian American female senator in Mazie Hirono.
• LGBT gains are historic, and include the election of the first openly gay senator, Tammy Baldwin, in Wisconsin; the passage of marriage equality in Maine, Maryland, and Washington; and a clear no to a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman in Minnesota.
• Seven members of the so-called “rape caucus” are decisively given their walking papers.
• Women support Obama, as do (overwhelmingly) Latinos and African Americans; labor, young people, and college-educated voters.
• Obama defeats Romney in Pennsylvania and in the battleground states of Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada, and Colorado.
• Romney wins the male white vote.

THE “AFTER” CARTOON. The members of Group B—a straight woman, a same-sex couple with a child, a senior living below the poverty line, a transgender woman, a recent Mexican immigrant, an African American laborer, and a college student—are sitting arm-in-arm in a row, on a bench built from the backs of the male white members of Group A, whose faces are squashed in disbelief and disappointment. The members of Group B are grinning and the sun is shining. The cartoon’s caption reads “Oh, what a beautiful morning!”

Two major realities have emerged from this election.

First, to his credit, Governor Romney was gracious in defeat, and pledged to pray for and work with the president. In the aftermath of his loss, he demonstrated a fundamental decency that should serve as a cue to his colleagues and supporters. But the angry white male voters, and the enormous money spent to court them, are still fighting the truth. Karl Rove and Rick Santorum and their ilk refuse to concede or are finding outlandish reasons to complain about the results, and the extreme right wing—the Tea Party, if anything is more strident and resistant than ever, now that Mitch McConnell’s number one goal for Obama’s first term—to make sure it was his only one—has failed. Rachel Maddow’s summary of the election, which you can watch and read here, was a brilliant and eloquent attempt to get the Republican Party to see the error of their ways or risk collapsing in a heap of rejection at the hands of the electorate. “Last night the Republicans got shellacked. And they had no idea it was coming. And we saw them, in real time, in real humiliating time, not believe it even as it was happening to them. And unless they’re going to secede, they’re going to have to pop the factual bubble they have been so happy living inside, if they do not want to get shellacked again. And that will be a painful process for them, I’m sure, but it will be good for the whole country – left, right, and center. You guys, we’re counting on you. Wake up.” We must continue to urge the opposition party to come to the table and behave like grownups, and we devoutly hope they heed the call.

Second, the president won a mandate and has the wind at his back. He has nothing to lose from dealing boldly and insistently with Congressional opposition, and he’ll have the support of the majority of the voters for his efforts. Now is his chance, with the support of the Democratic Senate, to push forward with his legislative agenda and leave behind a lasting legacy for progress. Now is the time to stimulate permanent job growth; address climate change seriously; develop green energy; get rid of Citizens United; dump the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act; shore up voter protections; fill judicial vacancies with strong, progressive nominees; and put an end to tax cuts for the wealthiest few.

In his victory speech, Obama said, “What makes America exceptional are the bonds that hold together the most diverse nation on earth. The belief that our destiny is shared; that this country only works when we accept certain obligations to one another and to future generations. The freedom which so many Americans have fought for and died for comes with responsibilities as well as rights. And among those are love and charity and duty and patriotism. That’s what makes America great.”

Diversity and responsibility prevailed on Tuesday. Hope beat fear, and love defeated hate. With determination, and the support of those who so decisively reelected the president, the next four years can ignite a torch that will shine a bright and sustaining light, well into the future. After feels so good.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Learn more about Rachel’s new novel here —-> Driving in the Rain

Join Rachel on Facebook here —-> The Equality Mantra