After more than a year of alternating national obsessions with Obama, Palin, McCain, the Clintons, Romney’s Mormonism, Edwards’ haircut, Dennis Kucinich and UFOs, Rudy Giuliani and his 9/11 fetish, it’s hard to believe this presidential election is finally coming to an end.
When I look back on the general election campaign, one image stands out for me as a perfect representation of the difference between the two candidates. Several weeks ago, I was waiting for my friend and colleague Kate Nocera at the bank and noticed a little boy writing something on a deposit slip. He seemed to be concentrating very hard. When his mother finished at the ATM, she said “Let’s go” and he threw away the slip on the way out. I went into investigative mode and retrieved it from the trash can. What he had written was an unfinished but nonetheless inspirational political statement:
It’s hard to imagine any little kid taking a free moment to thoughtfully write out anything McCain or Palin has said on the campaign trail. “Socialist!” “Wealth spreader!” “Friend of terrorists!” Those are the messages they’re sending, and there’s nothing uplifting or noble about them.
“Yes we can,” however you spell it, makes people feel good about themselves. However trite it might be, it’s an appeal to the best within people, not their prejudices and misconceptions and anger but rather their confidence and hopefulness and desire to make the world a better place. If the polls are at all accurate, that approach has worked. We’ll know for sure in a couple of days.
This is so precious, I got all choked up. Sigh.