Permission to dream
Sunday, February 3rd, 2008Too much work to do, and today’s the one time of the year I allow myself to waste a day on watching football (ok, one of two times, I watch USC bowl games, too :-). But a brief post anyway.
The terrible thing about being leftward-leaning in this country is to watch the quadrennial self-destruction of the Democratic Party, nominating yet another New England intellectual who can dish off stacks of well reasoned policy documents, but can’t connect with anyone.
The one living exception is Bill, but we’ve been reminded all too well in the past few weeks of his character and the divisive environment he helps create and thrives upon. And for those nostalgic for the Clinton Nineties, are they really worth reliving? Or just better than the past seven years?
We’ve been told for at least four years that Hillary was coming, and that she was inevitable, which I resented right off the bat. Add to that the fact that, while she certainly possesses her husband’s brains and probably better policy, she possesses none of his charisma and common touch, but has definitely acquired a good measure of his sleaze and self-righteousness (ok, maybe she already had some of the latter) through years of osmosis and simple association. At times they both seem indignant and even incredulous that anyone would dare challenge their birthright to return to the throne.
Now, we as the Good Democratic Herd are supposed to make the usual calculations and triangulations and support The Party’s Anointed. Vote HHH, not RFK. Mondale and Dukakis, Gore and Kerry and … Billary. And while some years there have been other, more inspiring candidates, who may or may not have done better in November, the Fear always whispered, “No, too X, too Y. We need neutral, we need safe.”
Well, we may not win this one, either. I’m not saying Obama is flawless or the Chosen One, but this is the first candidate in my life that I’m genuinely excited about, not just tacking away from this or that. And so I’m elated that this month, finally, millions of others are feeling the permission to dream:
