My how things have changed in the last 5 days. My story begins on last Thursday night as I watched Barack Obama's victory speech after his win in Iowa. While I was thoroughly moved by what Obama was saying, I was distracted by a sound from behind me.
When I turned around I saw my wife crying. When I asked her what was wrong, she took my hand and walked me back into our child's room. Jimmy is a beautiful three year old boy with gorgeous curls and a pleasant olive skin. Like Obama, he is of mixed heritage. My wife is black, and I am white.
My wife looked at Jimmy, smiled and said to me, "I just realized that our son really could be President someday. Things are changing, aren't they?" Those are words I will never forget.
My wife may be one of the most cynical, disenfranchised people I have ever known. The time I spend reading Daily Kos, watching the news or immersing myself in politics in some other form, has caused more than one argument in our home.
While WE were watching coverage of the New Hampshire primary today my wife asked if I could help out more with the kids so that she could volunteer for Obama's campaign here in Colorado. I don't know if anyone out there understands the meaning here. My wife has always be apolitical until now. What has changed?
Two things, I think have made the difference. My wife does seem to like Hillary Clinton for some reason that escapes me, but Barack Obama inspires her. She feels that any Democrat we have running now would be an improvement, but Barack Obama could change America. That is a profound difference.
The other thing that has made a difference is the fact that Obama seems to be taking the approach of surrounding himself with new faces who are willing to challenge the old guard and who may be able to give us some semblance of our party and our country back. I do not believe Hillary can accomplish this as she has surrounded herself with the same faces who seem more concerned with rebuilding the Clinton dynasty and re-visiting the 90's again.
I feel that would be a sad route to take, as more than likely we would continue with the divisions and gotcha politics that have caused our great country to falter for too long.
But I digress, the point that I think is important,is this. It seems we are seeing a shift that we haven't seen since Bobby Kennedy, and maybe not even then. People across our country of all ages, genders, and ethnicities are becoming engaged again. And there is a hope for my children that was definitely not there a year ago. Anyone who does not see that is missing the importance and the beauty of this moment in time.
While Obama lost tonight, I hope that this does not silence the rumble of hope that has been rolling through our country in the last week. That would truly be a shame.
And for the record, I had hoped that Russ Feingold would throw his hat into the ring. I'm still not sure that I'm an Obama supporter (I am much more so now than I was a month ago), but I sure hope he keeps pushing. Our country needs it.