I considered writing two pieces, each assuming a different candidate won our presidential election, but I am too lazy to undertake such initiative. I considered not writing about the election — as if any reader would care after such a defining moment for our generation and our country. You see, I am coming from that other side of Tuesday, the one in which I do not know who the next leader of the free world will be.

This is kind of a big deal. Of course our supermarkets will still sell food, “Entourage” will continue to steadily improve, State Street will be bustling, and everything in Madison will stay relatively the same from the days before. But people won’t feel like it has. Everything will be different in words that cannot be expressed. Sam Cooke sang, “A Change is Gonna Come” and perhaps — hopefully — it has.

The president is part of our American identity. We carve their likeness in marble and plaster as though he were our temporary Caesar. He will be a frequent topic of conversation. The president is the face of the country. He rears his head and comes into the airspace of every continent, save Antarctica. As this prints, we will likely know whose face this will be for the next four years. As this was written, we didn’t know for certain.

Barack Obama won pretty handily. As a result, most of Madison is likely recovering from a celebratory hangover this glorious Wednesday. But, on this other side of Tuesday, relief from eight years of an executive who governs primarily from the gut — by feel, like a fighter pilot — looks in jeopardy as Sarah Palin’s Old Testament-Christian populism stirs souls in Western Pennsylvania.

Despite their outpourings to the Holy Spirit, the Republicans did not pull off their miracle, did they? I mean, a Republican candidate cannot win over a jury of reasonable small business owners and potential independents with accusations of “socialism” while Warren Buffet is vouching for the defendant. Their rallies, chock full of “real” God-fearing Americans, are not going to sway the independent electorate in sufficient numbers. The nationalistic populism embodied by the Alaskan might get “genuine” patriots elected on both sides of the Bering Strait, but not in the whole of the lower 48.

What if elections were held like one-on-one basketball games? The first man to reach 270 wins. In a 2008 scenario, McCain wouldn’t get a block in on the lankier, younger Obama. It would be an interesting comparison of ’50s style basketball and late-’70s era ABA hoops — Obama finger rolls versus McCain granny shots.

For pretty obvious reasons, the executive branch of the government is not chosen in this manner — this is a shame only to me. And since this was written on the other side of Tuesday, I may have made a huge mistake in karma by assuming Barack Obama will be our country’s next president. Maybe the tumblers will all fall into place for the Arizona senator. I have my bags packed and a train ticket to a Nicaraguan beach if this is the case.

It could be worse I guess; the last eight years have proved that much. As David Simon, creator of “Generation Kill,” said, “With the exception of maybe Woody Guthrie and Dick Cheney, there are not a lot of people who conform to pure good or pure evil.” Cindy McCain’s soulless glare may scare the bejesus out of me, but I don’t think the next administration could ever be worse that the current one — assuming McCain lives to be 80 — 80! Oh God, what might the “real” America do to us? Thanks to Jeff Tweedy for coining “the other side of Tuesday.”

James Sonneman ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in political science and history.