Greetings from Chicago, on what I've christened "Global Warming Saturday" - it's January 5, 45 degrees outside, the snow is melting rapidly, and while it's a tinge grey, sky-wise, my fair city is thawing out and rinsing the salt and dirt off of our cars, our sidewalks, and ourselves.
Anyone who thought this was going to be just another election year is by now noshing on their words if they dared make such a proclamation out loud - amazingly, after eight-plus years of collective ADD (war? terrorism? habeas corpus? stolen election? - quick, turn on the show where they're voting someone off of an island or making some one-hit wonder into a pop tart! or just turn your living room into an ATM and shop shop shop your troubles away!), America seems to be waking up and focusing - and my what a hangover we have!
The amazing part about hangovers is while one is composing their thoughts and hitting the "refresh" key on their selective memories, recollection of ones misdeeds in acquiring such a condition happens. Maybe that Tequila shot wasn't such a great idea; maybe it was the lime - but regardless, the fact of the matter is that we sometimes lose control and make some really boneheaded decisions while we're imbibing. The kool-aid that was served at Karl & Junior's little bash (still trying to block that image of "Hot Tub Tom" Delay out of my mind) was extremely potent, and while fortunately for myself, I chose not to drink it, those who did are now faced with a litany of "oh-god-what-did-i-do"'s. This is completely understandable, and as we wake up to the starker realities of the world we live in and our place in it, it can and should give one pause. Our economy has been forever altered by outsourcing and a manufacturing decline; our education system is still failing us; the dollar is worth about half of a pound or three quarters of a Euro; the world thinks we're out to be bossy and steal oil; our military is battered and overextended; blah blah blah - most of us here have known this for quite a while and been waiting for our moment to impact - we thought we had it last November, but somehow our anointed leaders failed us - more on them later.
The short of it is we of the so-called progressive/non-Freeper/thinking (take your pick) mind are in the spotlight again, but this time it's different and possibly for keeps. While we may seethe and spit poison at what has been done to us by the right over the last 28 years, what good has seething really done other than cover our opponent in poison spit. It hasn't won that many over to our side, and it can't. By playing into that dialog, the politics of divide and conquer, we give up our power and become everything we supposedly despise in our enemy - at best its a hollow victory, and if my somewhat-eccentric life path has taught me nothing else, the idea that even a hollow victory is still a victory just doesn't cut it in the long run.
Four years ago next month, about three blocks from where I am currently sitting, a friend of mine and I went to meet Mr Obama at a rally for his then-burgeoning senate campaign - I knew who he was, and I had seen the signs popping up (a side note - my friend and I used to joke that on first glance it looked like "Bareback Osama", which is a gay porn title waiting to be made I tells ya), but didn't know a lot about him and who he was. Let me tell you - it was a crowded room (The Broadway Armory), but you could feel something special was in the air, and it wasn't just hyperbole. My friend was a veteran of the SDS/McCarthy '68 thing, and he was blown away. We both looked at each other afterwards and said "I think we just saw a future President today" - not even contemplating him as an '08 contender, but this guy had IT - that X-factor, that thing that might mobilize those 51% of Americans who don't vote or don't care to maybe actually vote or maybe at least care. I bought "Dreams of My Father" online the night of the event, and became a big fan.
So he defeated Alan Keyes handily - not a huge shock, but OK. He gets to the Senate and then hits with a second book (not as moving, but has enough to recommend it to even my most Red-Stated friends) and seems to shed his "oh-god-is-he-liberal" sheath the moment he gets to Washington. I become preplexed. I question my whole rationale. Then I hear whispers of an '08 run. I get pissy because he hasn't even served out his full Senate term. And then the show begins.
Hilary Rodham Clinton is a great woman; smart, funny, and tenacious. An amazing Senator, and in any other culture, a shoe-in for President. But this is the same country that became obsessed with her husband's extramarital activities and deemed her polarizing. She has modulated some of her so-called extremities quite well, and though she is not my Primary choice, I'd bust my ass to get her elected because she would probably be AMAZING as a POTUS. Possibly better than Bill even. But that "X-factor" could be a hard hurdle. And that is what holds me back. Well, that and the war vote.
John Edwards is a wonderful man, with an extraordinary wife, and articulates the Populist rage so many of us feel quite possibly better than anybody. A far more evolved politician than he was four years ago, I struggle with him as a candidate because this populism-bent seems to be in complete conflict with his Senate record. Yeah, we're all over the Corporate greed thing, but this invective he's been offering of late is as harsh and shrill as that the right has tossed our way for so long. Still, I'd happily shake a tail feather to get him in if he's the nominee. (Myself dreams of him as AG - picture the corporate freakouts that will happen if that comes to pass!)
Biden should be SOD. Period.
That brings me back to Barack. OK, so maybe it's not too soon. I can give him that - even Bob "Prince of Darkness" Novak and George Will ("THE George Will?" in best Ralph Wiggum voice) said RUN. The Donnie McClurkin thing was big disappointment to me, but I also understand that you've got to cast a wide net, especially when you're swimming upstream against a Clinton-current. Oprah? She was a war shill, so that didn't mean anything pro or con to me; but she can deliver an audience, and that is always good. Michelle? A revolutionary First Lady if ever there was. But one thing more than anything else sealed the deal for me - his closing ad in Iowa. Not just for what it said, but how it moved not only me, but apparently a huge amount of people not normally swayed by a politico.
There's a charge in the air that is palpable - something reslembling a colonic - while it's the awakening to a hangover, and while I hope we're not asking him to be Jeebus (though in some way his message of conciliation and unity is very JC at its core - the good part of the core that the right hasn't talked up in a long time (except the Huckabeast)), the greater populace seems willing to embrace someone whip-smart, genuine, and able to maybe build a bridge back to where all of us in this great country might not actually shudder when we think of our place in the world (and the damage Darth & Junior heaped upon it).
Thanks for reading and letting me sort out my thoughts. As vicious as it can be around here of late, you people have given me much brain food to nosh on and much hope on some terribly bleak days (that aren't as warm as a 45-degree Saturday in January in Chicago).