The audacity of hope
I can’t stop fretting. I won’t be able to stop fretting until the polls close in New Hampshire tomorrow night and we find out who takes that state. There are so many stories to read right now, stories about Clinton crying at a rally, stories about Clinton running out of money, stories about Obama taking time out of his busy campaign schedule to record a Voice of America message calling for calm in Kenya. And there are whose headlines make my stomach churn, stories I don’t click on because I’m afraid the more I read, the more hopeful I become, the harder I’ll crash if things don’t go the way I want them to tomorrow. Pundits galore are stirring up the frenzy to such a fevered pitch that I simply don’t know how I’m going to manage through the next twenty-four hours.
Dan left me a voicemail late last Thursday night, shocked that I hadn’t called him with a verbal happy dance after Obama’s decisive victory in Iowa. Of course I am thrilled about Iowa… but I did not want to celebrate too early, lest Obama suddenly let out a campaign-destroying screech heard ’round the world.
But possibly, thinking that way, being cautious about Obama’s chances for winning, is missing the point of his campaign: Hope. (Which… do you know who else said there is always hope? Aragorn! Dan, you can close the comment window now. I have put the discs away.)
The Obama campaign gives me hope for the future of our country, even if only because just a few decades ago nobody would have believed a black man with a funny name could come this far. As Obama himself said last Thursday night, “They said this day would never come.”
The more I hear him speak (picture below is not mine, but it’s from the rally in Atlanta last spring), the more I read his work, the more I want this man to be our next president. He might actually restore my faith in the integrity of the office.
There is something to be said for a man who can let his campaign rally be interrupted by anti-abortion protesters without spinning it to his advantage, or using it to advance his own abortion platform, or really saying anything other than, “Some people got organized to do that. That’s part of the American tradition we are proud of… That’s hard, too, standing in the midst of people who don’t agree with you.”
Reminds me a little of Oliver Wendell Holmes, and a little of Voltaire.
However, as much as I want it to be tomorrow already, the WGA strike is kind of sucking the joy right out of the election season. After all, what is Election 2008 without Indecision 2008? Even though Stewart and Colbert are going back to work tonight, there’s no way they can manage their usual level of election coverage all by their lonesomes.
There’s some whispering on Nikki Finke’s site about the WGA making more side deals with individual studios, a la their interim contract with with Dave Letterman’s Worldwide Pants. For the sake of our election coverage (especially considering how many people get their political news from The Daily Show — am blanking which guy said in 2004 that it was terrifying, but I’m pretty sure he was a Republican), I really hope they come to a resolution soon.
Plus, I want to see how Scrubs really ends.
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Comments
“Not spinning it to his advantage?” Please, Obama patronizing the audience with a teachable moment. If the press scrutinized Obama in the exact same way as Clinton, they’d be wondering if the protest was actually staged to demonstate Obama’s equanimaty and conceal his real lack of experience in politics–the same problem I had with our current prez, and he served 1 term as governor. Look, i appreciate Obama’s charisma, but when push comes to shove, on so many domestic policy issues any democrat will do. The question is, who can stand up and talk to Putin? Who do we want at the G8 representing our country to the world, not just ourselves???
Posted by: Mir | January 8th, 2008 01:18
Stewart was….mildly entertaining. Certainly not up to his usual standards. But I understand what he tried to do, and appreciate it.
And I’m glad you finally put the discs back.
Posted by: Dan | January 8th, 2008 06:37
I forgot that Indecision 08 on the the Daily Show will now be affected.
Jon Stewart was awkward to me…. he seemed uncomfortable…. i felt bad for him that he’s been forced to return without writers. He’s funny in his own right BUT its just terrible.
I feel bad for the Golden Globe Nominees too. I mean okay, its not as sad as the3 US boycotting olympics so trainers can’t compete etc because at least the nominees have tons of tons of money… but it is sad that this was their moment to prettify and get up there and cry and thank and its gone.
And I saw the Republican debates a few days ago and couldn’t sleep. I felt so sick to my stomach.
Posted by: Aisha | January 8th, 2008 09:39
As a native New Yorker I have to tell you that Rudy did an incredible job as mayor long before 9/11. Anyone that lived in the city before then knows he inherited a cess pool and left it safer, cleaner and able to withstand 9/11. Had the crisis taken place before the Rudy revival the ensuing chaos and looting would have been devastating.
Posted by: Rob | January 8th, 2008 09:58
“but I did not want to celebrate too early, lest Obama suddenly let out campaign-destroying screech heard ’round the world.”
ROFL! Loved this line.
I don’t have a favorite right now. Any of the democrats would satisfy me at this point. I’m an independent so I can’t vote in the primaries, so it doesn’t matter. I’ll just have to wait…. This election certainly is awesome though. A bi-racial man with a unique name and a woman, running for President at the same time!
I love the Daily Show but I haven’t been watching much TV for a few months. The show I’m waiting for is LOST.
Posted by: Tee | January 8th, 2008 16:31
Each and every candidate with the exception of Jon Paul fought over who could be more rabid in executing islamists, muslims and the muslim world!
Posted by: Asma | January 8th, 2008 17:22
I would rather have Obama speaking to Putin than Hillary.
Posted by: Karen L. Reimer, Mt. Bethel, PA | January 8th, 2008 17:36
Mir, I’m with Karen. I’d rather have Obama speaking to Putin than Hillary, if for no other reason than Obama has shown he’s willing to have an open and honest conversation with other world leaders, and Hillary has said that approach is fallacy.
Dan, if things continue to go as they are tonight, I may have to bring them back out.
Aisha, I know! Election season is simply not the same without Indecision 2008. I’m watching Stewart now, and while he’s still entertaining, it’s not the same. I’d like for the strike to be over now, please.
Rob, my apologies. I deleted the comment you’re responding to because I realized it was actually robo-spam. I don’t really know much about Giuliani’s mayoral terms, but it really bugs me that he incorporates 9/11 into every third statement he makes publicly. Echoes of our current president and all…
Tee, this election is DEFINITELY interesting. I just hope it is ultimately interesting in the direction I like.
Auntie Asma, I think this is one situation where we are going to have to agree to disagree on American politics.
I think I’ve said before, if I truly believed that’s what our government’s end goal was, I don’t know that I could live here any longer.
Posted by: huda | January 8th, 2008 23:17