Sunday, January 06, 2008

A Little Tingle

On Thursday night, I was driving home after a WAMER (Women Artists Meeting, Eating, Reading) meeting. It was late, almost 11:30pm, and I turned on the radio. I heard a man's voice giving a speech--what sounded like a victory speech--and it occurred to me that the Iowa caucuses had ended and that it wasn't Hillary speaking and it wasn't John Edwards speaking, it was Barak Obama.

For a moment, I felt a thrill, a real thrill, such as I haven't in a long, long time. A thrill that maybe the US would get on the right track again, a thrill that reason and smarts would govern, not fear and secrecy. That multicultural America would be embodied in our leader, someone who has lived in other countries and sees connections, not just opportunities for dominance. For a moment, I felt hopeful, as cliched as it instantly became, but it was true, I felt hopeful. When I got home, Dan was still up, also listening, and we both sat there grinning like fools. Maybe...just maybe...

Perhaps it was just a sign of how profoundly alienated we feel after seven years of Bush & Co. that the absurd circus that is the 2008 campaign actually moved us. But it did and we enjoyed the moment. A crack of light through seven years of tragedy and despair.

1 comment:

Xxx. Xxxx said...

I heard snippets of his speech the next morning on NPR and wept at the suddenness of the hope that washed over me.

I think he's a little green still and that worries me, and thrills me all at once.