Looking Back at 2008: Curtains

Within a couple hours, 2008 will be over.

So much has happened this year, too much to adequately summarize in one post. It's been both a year of anguish and a year of joy.

In November, we celebrated as Barack Obama won election as the next President of the United States, cheered as Chris Gregoire triumphed over Dino Rossi, and reveled in countless other victories, like the passage of Sound Transit Proposition 1, Peter Goldmark's win, or the defeat of Tim Eyman's I-985.

In April, we lost our Senior Managing Editor, Keith Deshaies, to a heart attack. We miss him terribly but we know his spirit remains with us.

In September, we watched, crestfallen, as Seattle-based Washington Mutual, the nation's oldest savings and loan, was seized by the federal government and turned over to JPMorgan Chase for the paltry sum of less than $2 billion.

All throughout the autumn, we watched our economy slide downhill, even as John McCain claimed the "fundamentals" were strong, while media outlets kept us angry with fresh stories about the greed and excess of the Bush error.

And no matter what the season, it was a bad year to be a Seattle sports fan. The Mariners were bad, the Seahawks were bad, the Sonics left town, the Husky football team was winless, the Cougars weren't much better.

2008 was a year of growth for the Northwest Progressive Institute. We are several staff members stronger, daily readership of our online network is higher, and we have more resources thanks to the generous financial support of many kind friends.

While we have much to be thankful for, we're worried and concerned about the future of our country. There is so much at stake and so many challenges that need solving. These are tough times that will test even our most capable leaders and leaders-to-be. More than anything, we need an end to the uncertainty and gloom that seems to be hanging over our country. Barack Obama is the president-elect, but as his spokesman constantly reminds the traditional media, we only have one president at a time. The Bush error won't officially end until January 20th, 2009.

We got much of what we wished for at the end of last year... but we also had to deal with a lot of unpleasantries that we didn't ask for.

We're ready for a new administration and a brighter future. We're ready to leave 2008 behind and ring in a new year, a year that will slam the door of a sad and shameful period in our nation's history and usher in the beginning of a new era.

Here's to 2009. See you in the New Year.