Nov 05 2008
Personal, Politics, Society

Election 2008

Yesterday I walked into my old elementary school and cast my vote for John McCain. As I walked out I knew he wouldn’t win. I wasn’t depressed about it, I just knew it. Bush lost this election for any Republican the moment he decided to invade Iraq. The post-9/11 political capital was spent with reckless disregard and seen as a blank check. That check was cashed yesterday with the election of Barack Obama.

Unlike some of my conservative friends, I’m not really that depressed this morning. I have the hope that Obama will live up to his post-partisan rhetoric and govern from the center, now that he has reached his goal of the presidency. There are couple of lines in John Steinbeck’s, The Winter of Our Discontent that gives me some hope for this.

In business and in politics a man must carve and maul his way through men to get to be King of the Mountain. Once there, he can be great and kind—but he must get there first.

This is my hope for the Obama administration. It’s the hope that he has acted as a left-wing shill because he had to in order to rise through the ranks of the Democratic party. Now that he has made it, he can let his actions meet his words.

This morning I actually had the occasion to smile upon this historic election and see it from a different vantage point. After dropping Andy off at his classroom I was on the way back to the car when I overheard the last bit of a quick conversation between the old African American school janitor and one of the African American moms. She was laughing as she said, “I didn’t get any sleep last night. I went to bed crying. I couldn’t sleep because I was crying.” He replied in his old southern drawl, “I never thought I’d see the day… never did.”

At this moment I knew what this election meant to some. It was a real stake in the American dream after feeling on the outside for so long. Many whites will dismiss racism today as a relic of the past, but it was only as recently as the 1970’s that schools in Texas were still racially segregated. That is not that long ago, and those wounds aren’t ancient history yet. This election meant something great for a great many people who have never felt like first-class citizens. This made me smile as I walked back to my car.

Now let’s hope that the next four years provide a reason to believe in the “change” that Obama has promised.

Oct 08 2008
Politics

The Maverick Rides Into The Sunset

The moment came when McCain “suspended his campaign.” That was the moment Obama locked up this election. When faced with one of the most critical economic disasters in the last 100 years McCain pulled a political stunt. It was crazy and cheap. He would have gained much more by quietly heading back to Washington to help in earnest. But no, it had to be this big magic trick. The problem was that everyone saw the rabbit before it came out of the hat, and no one was impressed.

For anyone who noticed, the week this all started to unfold Sen. McCain changed his position about three times. “Everything is fine” to “Fire the head of the SEC!” to “Suspend the campaign!” In contrast, Obama stayed quiet and cool and waited for the dust to settle before commenting. Who looked more presidential that week?

I have a great deal of respect for Sen. McCain. I believe that he has more character and courage in his pinky toe than I will ever have my entire life. He has seen and endured more than most Americans ever will, and this has made him a man of quality. This was not that man.

Honestly, I think he may have missed his chance to be President when Dubya beat him in 2000. Now, had Bush not effed things up so badly by cowboying into Iraq we might be telling a different story today, but we’re not.

I give McCain credit. In the face of an unpopular party and war, a hopelessly biased media and an oratorically gifted opponent he has done quite well. He even had the chance to run the ball into the end zone when the Palin wave was riding high, but he and his campaign blew it by sequestering his new star, thus magnifying every misspoken word that came from her mouth in those rare and hostile interviews.

It looks to me like the writing is on the wall, barring some freakish event we are looking at Obama in 08. So where do we go from here?

From my point of view, I will hope and pray that Obama’s rhetoric of a post-partisan government will really materialize (not holding my breath). I will hope that he is really more centrist than his voting record indicates (again… not holding my breath). I will wait for the Marxist legislative horrors to hatch from the far-left to be ushered into law by Reid, Pelosi and Obama. It will be a freak show, to be sure. I will watch the Palin trajectory to either the top of the party or back into Arctic obscurity. I will watch Republicans either get back to the core conservative principles of small government and low taxes or watch them muddle around remembering when they had it good for awhile.

Mostly, I think things will be alright… I mean, it’s still America. I will be spared the word “Maverick” for awhile, and that’s good. With any luck, we will have an uneventful four years. That may not help Obama’s next opponent much in 2012, but it will sure be good for me.

Sep 28 2008
Personal

Stargazing

This evening was a pretty active one here in the cul-de-sac. My kids and the other neighborhood kids were running and playing in the street. Gracie and our little neighbor, Kate, were running around with a jump rope. They each had one end and they would chase down little Jonah and wrap it around him. Then they’d all three run around laughing their little faces off. My seven-year-old, Andy, had a tennis ball and he and I spent the evening throwing to each other. We both tried to see if we could bounce it really high in the middle of the court. It was just one of those idyllic early autumn evenings when it’s not quite cool yet, but the sting of summer has faded a bit.

After it started getting dark everyone headed inside for the evening. It was bath time for our sweaty little pigs and dusk was settling quickly. Andy and I were the last to head inside. This summer I’ve noticed that my boy gets very sentimental this time of the evening, when it’s quieting down for the day. He asked if I would stay out with him while he rode his bike around the court a few more times. I sat down in the front yard and watched him glide around on his bike. He has a specific path that he travels. He start in the neighbor’s driveway, at the top of the slope. He cuts thought the grass to the sidewalk in front of our house. This is all downhill, so he can pick up a little speed. Then he takes a wide circle through the court and heads back to the top our neighbor’s driveway.

As he made his rounds he passed by me and said, “I love you, Dad.” This always just kills me. Then he went on talking about how perfect the evening was. “Dad, this is a perfect night,” he’d say as he turned his circles in the court. I had to agree.

When it was finally time for Andy to put his bike away for the evening he asked me to “come and see the most perfect hill in the world.” Who can resist an invitation like that? He was so excited as we walked. We left the the cul-de-sac and headed down the sidewalk. He was practically running. He said to me, “This is where a find four-leaf clovers and little flowers for you and Mom. It’s the BEST place to look at stars.”

We reached a place just around the corner where a neighbor’s lawn reaches up to the side of their house from the sidewalk. The slope is just perfect for laying back and looking at the sky. Andy plopped down on the grass and I sat down next to him. He said, “You’re the first person to come here with me. It’s the best place to look at stars. I’ve always wanted you and Mom to come down here with me, and you’re the first.” Then he cupped his hands behind his head and relaxed into the hill.

We both stayed there looking at the first stars of the night and spotting planes as their lights flashed overhead. He asked me why the sky was blue, and why it turns orange in the evening. He spotted planes left and right and was the always the first to see a new star.

There is something special about my boy. He is a very thoughtful boy. He’s a deep thinker and a deep feeling little guy. I am amazed at the person that is forming before my eyes each day. He is becoming his own person and it is astounding to watch.

One day he will have childhood memories. I love it that one of his memories will be of he and his Dad lying in the neighbor’s yard looking up into the night sky for stars and airplanes on a perfect evening. I love it that I will have this memory for the rest of my life.

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