The Next Thing You Know, She'll Be Asking for Silverware!

Day of Destiny

I have to admit that until today I was undecided about who to support for president. Part of that was because it will probably all be decided before I get a chance to vote in a primary so I hadn’t really felt pressured to make a decision. Partly because we have the luxury this year of all the Democratic candidates being acceptable to varying degrees. If Kucinich had stayed in the race I would have voted for him, because I really wanted him to at least have a lot of say in the platform issues. So I was kind of just being an observer. An interested observer. But pretty impartial.

This morning when I got up and looked at my email, I noticed that Amber's Google status message said "Day of Destiny." I knew she was supporting Obama, and I started thinking about it. The excitement. The way he is inspiring young people. The passion.

And then they were talking about just the same thing on the radio. Thom Hartman, Carl & Heidi. Talking about how over and over it is young people telling their parents it has to be Obama. And the parents listening!

These children of my generation have grown up with Ronald Reagan, George Bush senior who took them into high school, a stressful but prosperous weird time with Clinton, and the 8 years of Bush. How completely pathetic. My generation on the other hand grew up with Eisenhower and Kennedy and idealism and the creation of the Peace Corps. We were in middle and high school with Kennedy as president. It was amazing. And then the devastation hit with the assassinations of John and Bobby and Martin Luther King and we ended up with LBJ and then Nixon. Our idealism was bashed. And then we briefly had Jimmy Carter, who was bashed by everyone.

And for whatever reason, our generation was unable to make good on the promises of the love and peace years. We couldn’t organize and energize. We were baffled by what happened to us. How did Ronald Reagan get to be president? How could that have happened?? And ultimately, our generation gave the world George W. Bush. Our generation has more children in jail than any other country. And we continue to be baffled by it all.

So maybe we can redeem ourselves just a tiny bit by giving our children Barack Obama. It is just time. The thing we used to say about how you can't trust anyone over 30 was maybe right. Maybe a little older than 30. But however old someone is, they have to still have the idealism that we had when we were in our 20's in the early 70's. Our children deserve to fall in love, to experience what we felt for the Kennedys and the Beatles. And it is so much more than just good speeches and inspiring people. It is the good work and the good works. The thoughtful intelligence. The real concern and caring. The bold action to move things forward. Ideas, positive change.

So let’s do it!