The "woe is us!" handwringing by the Democratic Party over Hillary's decision to trail blaze on to Denver will be an interesting afterthought in the history of this nearly inconceivable, great and distinctively American election. It was the best election I ever saw. And it's gonna end okay and when the time comes, McCain is gonna get it handed to & 'em like Bush did Dukakis...
And Barack Obama's gonna be in the White House. With his beautiful family and the kids are gonna play under the desk and. . . Camelot just got cool. But we know how sad Camelot can be. We know how it feels, especially now, to hear of a Kennedy's death. And like the Kennedy's, Obama is operating within mythic America, so we fear for him. But our fear is overly sentimental.
All Presidents of The United States forever forward will live in danger. Like the rest of us.
The demands of good story telling give an Obama Presidency an almost irresistible pull. From slavery's original sin to the Civil War to the martyrs Lincoln, Kennedy and King; we wonder over the historical symmetry made by an Obama Presidency.
We need Walt Whitman to explain what all this means or to make poetry out of it. Until then, Obama can write the story.
- Citizen Voices blogger Chris McConnell is a bookseller, freelance writer, & former & high school & English teacher & and odd jobber who lives in La Jolla.
