Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Looking Back and Looking Forward

I wrote this on February 8, 2004. It has been slightly edited to make more sense to people that aren't me.
Saturday morning, I got up much earlier than I wanted to in order to go to the Heartland Cafe, where my father and I heard the delightful words of Barack Obama. If the world is a just place, Barack Obama will be America's first black president (I'm presuming, of course, that George W. Bush will manage to hold out against stunningly talented and straight-shooting political savant Al Sharpton). Everything he said was exactly what needed to be said, he's articulate but not snooty, he's reasonable about his expectations, he has the respect of his peers . . . I want this man to be my senator. You could say that I am a strange overly idealistic youngster who doesn't know his political ass from his political elbow. But afterwards, my dad and I went to the Little Corner Restaurant and he was beaming with admiration. In his words, he hasn't been this excited about a politician since Bobby Kennedy.
The world might be a just place after all. This morning, when I considered what was going to happen today, I wept with joy. We've got a long way to go, but we've got a good man at the helm.