Did you feel it last night? I sure did.
I am a cynic at heart. I grew up with a sort of nihilism: we were all going to die in a nuclear holocaust, corporations have far too much control in our lives, and elections are the ritual of tricking ourselves into thinking we have a say.
Last night somehow changed my opinion. I felt, for the first time since 1992, that things were going to change for the better. Listening to first McCain's, then Obama's, speeches, I found myself at the verge of tears. Yes, we can do it.
I heard several commentators draw upon personal anecdotes about the 1960 Kennedy election. I have wondered if "this is what it felt like." Apparently, it did, and now I seem to have a deeper understanding of the hope Camelot promised. I also better see how deep we were shaken when it ended in 1963.
Sen. McCain's concession speech was stunningly brilliant, positive, and reconciliatory; something I wished so desperately to hear from him. I wanted to see the old McCain once more before he left the national spotlight. The "boos" from the crowd upon merely uttering Obama's name were deplorable, but not unexpected, and that alone is a sad statement to make.
Only after watching the crowds gather at Grant Park in Chicago, I knew that I was watching history in the making. Sen. Obama's acceptance speech was moving and inspired. Did I detect a hint of JFK? Absolutely, especially after reading his 1961 inaugural speech. Did I feel the presence of an certain "preacher from Atlanta" on the stage? Yes, and not just in the obvious reference to "We Shall Overcome," but in the tone and meter of his presentation. Yes we can.
Forget Joe the Plumber. The election (to me at least) is embodied in Ann Nixon Cooper, the lady of 106 years who has seen more than I could ever have experienced in my relatively short existence. To hear the events she has lived through, and the changes she's seen, it stood as powerful evidence to people "who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day. "
People like myself. But, perhaps, not as cynical as I have been until last night.
Last night somehow changed my opinion. I felt, for the first time since 1992, that things were going to change for the better. Listening to first McCain's, then Obama's, speeches, I found myself at the verge of tears. Yes, we can do it.
I heard several commentators draw upon personal anecdotes about the 1960 Kennedy election. I have wondered if "this is what it felt like." Apparently, it did, and now I seem to have a deeper understanding of the hope Camelot promised. I also better see how deep we were shaken when it ended in 1963.
Sen. McCain's concession speech was stunningly brilliant, positive, and reconciliatory; something I wished so desperately to hear from him. I wanted to see the old McCain once more before he left the national spotlight. The "boos" from the crowd upon merely uttering Obama's name were deplorable, but not unexpected, and that alone is a sad statement to make.
Only after watching the crowds gather at Grant Park in Chicago, I knew that I was watching history in the making. Sen. Obama's acceptance speech was moving and inspired. Did I detect a hint of JFK? Absolutely, especially after reading his 1961 inaugural speech. Did I feel the presence of an certain "preacher from Atlanta" on the stage? Yes, and not just in the obvious reference to "We Shall Overcome," but in the tone and meter of his presentation. Yes we can.
Forget Joe the Plumber. The election (to me at least) is embodied in Ann Nixon Cooper, the lady of 106 years who has seen more than I could ever have experienced in my relatively short existence. To hear the events she has lived through, and the changes she's seen, it stood as powerful evidence to people "who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day. "
People like myself. But, perhaps, not as cynical as I have been until last night.