Yes We Can

Thank the heavens... Barack Obama wins in a landslide victory signalling the long-awaited opportunity for change we've been hungering for.

I try to sorta' keep overt politics out of an online comic book review site, but it should be no surprise that I lean pretty far to the liberal left on most issues (Freedom of Speech, the CBLDF, hello...). And as one of our best fictitious presidents explained, Matt Santos, from "The Debate" episode of The West Wing, when did "liberal" become a four letter word?

Santos: "It's true. Republicans have tried to turn liberal into a bad word. Well, liberals ended slavery in this country."

Vinick: "A Republican President ended slavery."

Santos: "Yes, a liberal Republican; what happened to them, Senator? They got run out of your party! What did liberals do that was so offensive to the Republican Party? I'll tell you what they did. Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things, every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor. "