Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania. I’ve only been there once, to Philadelphia. I attended a meeting. But all I can remember is seeing a couple of people huddling over a steaming manhole cover. It was November. Cold. Other than that I know little of Pennsylvania. Even so, I’d bet that the people of Pennsylvania are every bit as smart as people anywhere else in the U.S. That is why I will go way out on a limb and predict that Obama will either win Pennsylvania or come close, much closer than anyone thinks. They will see through Clinton’s absurd claims about Obama being an elitist and herself being a down home country girl. Since she became desperate some time ago now, she has behaved in exaggerated ways to express herself, ways that I believe are so transparent as to be almost laughable. For example, her dramatic claims about her reaction to the assassination of Martin Luther King, her tale of sniper fire, and her attempts to mock Obama’s speeches, and now her downing shots of whiskey followed by a beer chaser and bowling. Some even believe her tears are false (I don’t, I’ll give her that as genuine). I believe she’s a great candidate when she sticks to the real issues, she’s obviously knowledgeable, has done her homework, comes across as a serious and thoughtful person. But when she attempts to be dramatic or sarcastic or mocking, she just falls flat. Whoever advised her to attack Obama instead of just doing what she does best, gave her some bad advice. I believe that for all intents and purposes her campaign will be over after Pennsylvania. Even her supporters like the Governor and Barney Frank are hinting it’s over. I think Bill and Hillary have badly damaged themselves in this campaign. How badly remains to be seen.

Michelle Obama was on the Colbert Report tonight. She was great. If Obama can survive the roviating he is being subjected to, and actually makes it to the White House, I will be incredibly proud of my country for the first time in years. Think of the importance of this. An African-American President with a black wife as first lady in the White House. Even if Obama should turn out to be a terrible President (which I doubt) it will send a message to all the world that we are not as bigoted and racist as they might think we are. It’ll be the greatest thing since the invention of making fire. And more importantly, Obama may in fact be the rare person who can actually end the “war” and also make progress on the intractable and endless Israeli/Palestinian problem, the root cause of most of the trouble in the Middle East. I may end up disappointed but for the first time in a long time I actually feel hopeful. I feel my natural cynicism beginning to fade. Naturally, if something goes wrong and Obama is denied the nomination I will be crushed. But I won’t be alone, the majority of the American public will feel the same way. What this might do to the country I hesitate to even contemplate. I feel the Great Mystery may have once again sent us a White Knight just in the nick of time.

LKBIQ:
“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work. You don’t give up.”
Anne Lamott