The whole election is inescapable. And I care so much this year.
If McCain had won in 2000, I could have lived with that. He can be moderate, can be bipartisan, could well have been a decent president who wouldn't have let the rightwingnuts have stolen our civil liberties and hijacked our country. But something happened to him, age, greed, a sense of entitlement, political handlers, I don't know. But he's come completely off the rails and is running with a crackpot evangelical idiot. I feel sorry for him, which is not what any real leader needs.
This year, oh, Hilary Clinton would have gotten my vote, no question. But given this desperate end game, I think we needed the charismatic, unflappable, soaring eloquence of Barak Obama to inspire. Need. The war needs to be resolved, the economic crisis needs to start turning around, the disintegration of our constitution needs to be mended.
Kennedy never got around to a lot, but he got people thinking, sea changes, mind changes. No more stasis. No more looking back. Whatever Obama does or doesn't do, he is the first from the generation after Vietnam, and brings with him the dreams of his generation. That in itself is worth something, when you think about it. And the US presidents at their best are symbols of what we should be.
My heart goes out to him, soul to soul, for the loss of his grandmother. We are asking a lot of him, more than any human being should have to bear. But I don't feel sorry for him. I really think he will stand.
That is why he has my useless vote in this infra-red state.
4 comments:
Your vote isn't useless; it may feel that way sometimes, but it still reflects that part of you that says "enough is enough". I only hope and pray that there are enough people who sincerely want change, that see and feel that need you spoke of to get out and make their "useless" vote count, too. After all, every pearl starts with a grain of sand.
And my heart grieves, too for the loss of his grandmother at this time, yet I also think he IS strong enough to carry on, in honor of her memory.
I keep thinking of Lincoln, who lost a child, yet guided the country through a nasty, bloody war. And if he hadn't been assassinated, would surely have died very soon of his own accord.
I want Obama to serve two terms, and live to be a venerable statesman for decades after.
I, like you, would be thrilled to have him lead for two terms and live on as the best President you've ever had, however, there is already talk of his potential assassination. You think there's turmoil in the economy now...
Suddenly, in his concession speech, there was the McCain I wouldn't have minded having as president. But yeah, he sure had vanished during the campaign. I think you're right, he wanted the presidency too much.
But that speech was really noble and made me think -- for the first time in a long, long time -- of patriotism as an actual virtue. I don't know if McCain would have risen to winning, but he certainly rose to losing.
I just keep taking deep breaths. I feel like there's suddenly enough oxygen in the air, for the first time since Jimmy Carter was president.
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