Historic Day

My first strong politics-related memory was JFK being assassinated. I was 8. I remember going to see President Johnson in a motorcade that went by out house in 1964 when he was running against Barry Goldwater. I worked as a copy boy at an international radio broadcast center in 1968 after all the atrocities of the summer and sat stunned as Nixon beat Humphrey. I went to Plains, Georgia and met Jimmy Carter's mother while he was still running in the primaries in 1976. Since then I've mostly kept my head down. Reagan's trickle-down faux-populism, Bush's mediocrity, Clinton's infuriating talent and lack of focus, the 8 immensely destructive years of W. I roll it all up into this one amazing day, when I finally get to see the right person become president.

I am daunted by the world Obama's inherited. I think we are only beginning to see the reality of what these past few years inflicted on us. It will probably get worse before it gets better. But we now have a president with calm, intelligence, vision, and with the desire and ability to bring people together. Almost 60% of McCain voters are optimistic about Obama, and I'm guessing McCain himself is among them. I've never seen a defeated candidate handled with the grace that Obama's shown. Nothing even close.

So is it any wonder that I can't pin down my emotions today? I've had a political lifetime bookended by disasters. The one thing I'm resentful for is that the campaign appropriated the word "hope," because that's exactly what I'm feeling right now.