Could it be true?
Could what be true?
Could there only be 120-or-so hours until the final ballots are cast in Hawaii and the 2008 election finally, finally comes to an end?
The answer is "yes?"
Amazing!
What's amazing?
What's amazing? Well, just think about it: It's taken more than 2 years and $2.4 billion to get to this point. It's been so long that the names of some of the original cast members are both gone and forgotten; who but a political junkie will remember when Gravel, Kucinich, Richardson, Edwards, Dodd, Biden and Clinton were all in the Democratic hunt? Or how about Romney, Huckabee, Brownback, Gilmore, Thompson, Tancredo and Cox?
Cox? Who in the heck is -- or was -- "Cox"?
John H. Cox was -- and is -- a Chicago-area attorney. Believe it or not, he was the first Republican to announce his candidacy. Likewise, he was the first to leave the race.
It's been an amazing couple of years. Right from the outset there was the understanding that the 2008 presidential election would be unlike any other; that it was rife with the chance of a historic first. After all, there was the possibility that January 2009 might see the inauguration of a president who was:
When all the winnowing was completed, we wound up with two major-party candidates who represented a whole bunch of historic firsts and oddities as well:
Has this been the dirtiest, least edifying presidential election in American history? Likely not. As a rule, American presidential jousts always have been rather long on bombast, bunk and entertainment, and woefully short on character truth and good taste. And whether it be William Henry Harrison's 1840 campaign where he provided endless casks of bourbon for thirsty voters, James G. Blaine's 1884 campaign where he accused opponent Grover Cleveland of having fathered an illegitimate child ["Ma Ma, Where's my Pa, Gone to the White House. Ha Ha Ha!"] or LBJ's notorious 1964 commercial that scared three-quarters of America into believing that Barry Goldwater was just itching to "drop the bomb," there's nothing new under the sun. Oh, sometimes the lies are a bit more obvious, a tad more frenzied, such as those claiming that Senator Obama is joined at the hip with Osama bin Laden, a second cousin to Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga, or bankrolled by Al Qaeda. All things considered, the Obama campaign has been mostly restrained; Joe Biden has rarely played it as viscerally as Sara Palin.
Without question, this has by far been the most expensive presidential race in American history -- roughly $2.4 billion, as noted above. It has also seen one campaign underwritten by an amazing 3,000,000-plus contributors who combined, managed to pour in nearly three-quarters-of-a-billion-dollars. To my way of thinking, this is the very definition of "public financing."
So, whichever ticket wins, it will be breaking new ground. But well beyond the anomalies and trivialities of this about-to-be-concluded race, are the most daunting challenges any administration has ever encountered. To the best of my knowledge, none of America's great economic meltdowns -- including the "Panic of 1837" and "The Crash" of 1929 -- occurred during a time when America was at war. Never before has a president entered the White House saddled with a multi-trillion dollar debt or such a vast disparity between the "haves" and "have-nots." [For a stark example of this, check out the photos of the house of a McCain/Palin versus an Obama/Biden supporter on the front page of today's New York Times.] And never before have the American people been so divided in their feelings, responses and understanding of the two major candidates.
In traveling and speaking, conversing and communicating with people from all over the country -- and even abroad -- it's become painfully obvious that few people are vanilla when it comes to the candidates -- particularly Obama or Palin. People either love them and think they're the second coming, or revile them and pray they just crawl back under the rocks whence they came. Increasingly, these conversations, arguments and debates point to an interesting phenomenon: a large majority of Democrats who speak positively about an Obama presidency versus an even larger majority of Republicans who seem to be much more anti-Obama/Biden than pro-McCain/Palin.
Barack Obama is neither the messiah nor the anti-Christ. What he is, is a highly gifted, highly thoughtful, supremely confidant politician who has been breaking barriers all his life.
Likewise, John McCain is neither the second coming of Audie Murphey nor a senile old coot. What he is is an anomaly; a career military man who, despite his background and training, marches to his own drummer and has shown himself to be capable of self-deprecation.
In short, neither man is as ideal as his biggest fans firmly believe, nor as diabolical as his worst enemies proclaim.
So, where do we go from here? Regardless of who is proclaimed victor -- whenever that will come is anybody's guess -- that man will face tasks and challenges which require the intellect of Jefferson, the political instincts of Lincoln, and the teamwork of FDR's New Dealers. And do remember, all those "promises" and "positions" that the campaigns have been proclaiming these past many months represent political ideals; of what either candidate would do in a perfect world where neither Congress, the Court nor the Citizens have a say. But of course, there is a Congress, there are Courts, and we, the citizens do have a say. To accomplish anything of importance requires far, far more than mere wishing, hoping or pontificating.
Do remember that which ever man becomes president he will require a public that is made up of citizens who, after so many years in the political wilderness, can hear that most American of all exhortations:
'WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!'
Will we be true . . .?
©2008 Kurt F. Stone


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