As I write this, the excitement of the 2012 election is reaching its peak. Within the last week I have heard plenty of disgruntled citizens saying they "cannot wait for the election to be over" and they're "sick of all the advertisements on TV."
You, as you glimpse these words today, have achieved that goal.
But be warned.
Your favorite sitcoms and football games will no longer be interrupted by hilariously frightening political ads. Instead you can get excited to see yet another Martin's advertisement. Because who doesn't love that jingle?
The voice-over of doom will no longer haunt your dreams, telling you whom not to vote for and why. That poor man with a terrifying baritone won't hit airwaves for at least another two years.
Clint Eastwood will go back to making movies and hopefully leave his chair at home. Eva Longoria will finally move out of Nevada where she's been slumming it stumping for Obama for about a month.
SNL will go back to its usual hit-or-miss sketches about "Real Housewives" and the Tanning Mom. You can altogether forget about the undecided voter and their questions like: Who is the president right now? How long is a president's term of office? And can women vote?
Ryan's widow's peak and Biden's grin won't be featured in the same SNL cold open, with all the smiling and water drinking and creepy laughter, ever again.
Big Bird will go back to Sesame Street. Binders will no longer be filled with women. Debates will be relegated to the realm of high school and college students. The number 47 can fall back into anonymity with the rest of the numbers 1 to 100.
I guess you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.
This election, though devoid of Sarah Palin, has been as entertaining as any presidential election. It's the humor and entertainment contained in this nationwide event that brings the country together regardless of party. Without these staged political events, what could we possibly have to unite us?
Regardless of whom you voted for, I hope as the excitement dies down you begin to miss this presidential election.
So as I sit here writing this, completely unknowing of the results of this marathon of a campaign, I can't help but look forward with a little twinge of sadness.
Or, as I am writing 12 or so hours before you're reading, perhaps the excitement is not yet over. Perhaps the results of the election still hang in the balance like a lonely chad. Perhaps we will have still another month of infighting like in that glorious debacle that was the 2000 election.
Perhaps.
A poli-sci nerd can dream.
Contact Courtney Cox at ccox3@nd.edu
The views expressed in the Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
