A Poem for Election Day

Thanks to my friends at the CSCC

Halloween Blues

by Terri Peterson

'Twas Halloween night and the ghosts were abundant

Though their moaning and wailing seemed somewhat redundant.

Four years of W. rendered the nation

Unable to counter our crushing inflation.

The ghouls couldn't figure what could be more scary

Than a neocon-appointed judiciary.

Witches grimly realized they would never be no

More publicly hateful than Dana Perino.

Dick Cheney steals hope from each heart as he passes,

Mike Chertoff is happy to spy on the masses,

Torture's accepted for interrogation;

Karl Rove spins a tight web of misinformation.

Dubya's last months as commander in chief

Offer anything but what can be termed relief.

Hubris and recklessness mixed with pure greed

Left common dreams strewn in the mean streets to bleed.

Our houses are gone!

And our banks are all failing!

700 billion dollar bailouts are bailing.

Emergency management plans are mismanaged.

Health care reform? It seems hopelessly damaged.

But the Bush years are ending, election day's nearing

For months we've heard nothing but conventioneering.

And who has the GOP picked to replace

Dubya and Cheney in this presidential race?

John McCain is the GOP's nominee stooge,

A sellout whose temper is said to be huge,

Nicknamed "McNasty", he flies off the handle

When asked of his role in the Keating Five scandal.

As for Sarah Palin, who's been chosen for VEEP,

The thought of her makes children cry in their sleep.

For deep in the bulb of her power she-mullet,

Lies the knife kept close by to stab moose in the gullet.

McNasty and the V-PILF are deep in cahoots

With CEOs buffing their gold parachutes.

Global suffering from New Orleans to Darfur?

Not important. Most of those people are poor.

The Halloween world demanded reclamation

Of Halloween business and horrification.

Paranoia and fear was their job to foment,

And not generated by one's government.

They looked to the right, who thought none could be tougher,

Than an ex-POW and his wolf-hunting fluffer,

To maintain terror-quo.

Our good ghouls were bereft.

Their hearts filled with despair; then they looked to the left.

Look! Barack Obama! Energized by compassion,

Who views social justice as not just a fashion,

Can discuss real concerns without tripping alarms,

Plus, his wife's pretty fierce. Have you checked out her arms?

Joe Biden, an expert in foreign affairs

Has been tapped for V.P.; as a statesman he dares

To put people's needs first before corporate lust.

Both aim, as leaders, to rebuild public trust.

So the ghosts and the witches all hope that you're certain,

When you go to the voting booth and draw the curtain,

To pick the team that inspires hope and not fright,

And vote Obama-Biden on election night.