The 2008 election was the first election in which I could legally vote for president and I could not have been happier. I was so excited to cast my vote for Barack Obama that my hands shook and my eyes welled up as I stepped into the voting booth. I don’t think I’m alone in that — those were exciting times! On one side, we had sad, old John McCain and that mean, folksy simpleton Sarah Palin. On the other, we had the progressive and handsome Barack Obama, with his kickass wife and adorable daughters, and Uncle Joe Biden. The youth vote was pumped, SNL was funny and we were all wearing Shepard Fairey t-shirts and talking about Change We Can Believe In.
2012 has a different tone. We’ve grown up. We now understand that progress is slow to come by and that, when a country is as fucked up as the one Barack Obama inherited, things don’t get better in four years. Then there’s the man himself. While the president’s done a lot of stuff we can be proud of, he’s done some really shitty stuff as well. He’s not the biggest advocator of civil liberties, his drones in Pakistan have killed countless citizens and he has that whole executive kill list. Sure, he’s still charming and sings Al Green songs. He still has a kickass wife and adorable daughters. He’s an advocate for gay and women’s rights. There continue to be reasons to vote for Obama, certainly over his opponent Mitt Romney, but we’re all doing it with much less of hitch in our step than we did 4 years ago.