Wednesday, June 04, 2008

this is our time...this is our moment...

i went to ames last night to watch election returns with my daughter, addie [nearly 35], her husband dwight [33], daughter nyla [almost four] and son jabari [ten months]. i began the campaign season over a year ago as a joe biden supporter; i was a precinct captain five months ago, but ultimately joined obama's group as the caucus proceeded. addie [who attended her first caucus in mason city with me in 1984, when i was county mondale chair] and dwight have been long-time obama supporters. nyla attended his big appearance at hilton last fall, and remembers it well.
i knew that i had to watch the returns from south dakota and montana with them, as a family. it was and is important to me--and to them--that we experience this together.
as i write this, i am listening to fresh air on npr, listening to another great terry gross interview, this one with a close friend and advisor of bobby kennedy, who was with him in california the night he was killed. forty years ago today. they are talking about, among other things, how bobby picked up the role that he brother, john, left behind upon his death. that of personifying the spirit of hope and of dynamic new energy for a new, younger generation, the proverbial leaders of tomorrow. the timing and similarities are too obvious to mention.
but the significance of the events, the convergence, the pooling and summoning of this untapped energy, and the opportunity it affords to experience again this feeling--unmatched in anything i've done--not only again, but with my two generations of off-spring, is unbelievable, and one i gladly resume and undertake. it's not like it makes me feel young again. it's not that kind of thing. it's not an age thing.
it's that vibrant hope thing; that the promise of america, the goodness and potential it affords this country and the world to actually do good--and not just talk about it while lining the pockets of the rich and connected--can be fulfilled, and, after a forty year hiatus, actually be realized in my lifetime.
i realize that sounds all maudlin and shit, but when it seems that all the efforts of the lifetimes of countless thousands and millions of people, famous and not famous who have lived and died in the face of adversity and against unbelievable odds to achieve progress toward a common goal of trust, hope, faith, peace and kindness toward our fellow men and women, regardless of [fill in the blank], after so many years of not just no prgress, but of outward regression and the growth of hatred and animosity in the name of god, love, and goodness which veils divisiveness and polarity, to feel that we might actually resume walking as a nation toward that goal, well, i want and need to believe that it is going to happen.

and to share this with my kids, and their kids, and to see that they share the same hope, joy, energy, and spirit of sharing and of love for others, well i be goddamned but isn't it a great sensation?
at the conclusion of barack obama's riveting and revitalizing speech in st. paul last night, and despite the presence of nyla [who stopped watching "alvin and the chipmunks" while obama was speaking, as she always does] and jabari [who, i kid you not, sat on the floor, speechless, his eyes fully trained on the screen, following every word until he was finished], i let out a "holy SHIT! that was some speech!" and nyla didn't scold me for using a naughty word. it was quite an evening to spend together as a family. and it's going to be quite a campaign. i know that i'll be pounding the pavement with little kids in tow between now and november.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know Kim, I read the entry above and kinda want to believe that you are 'hopeful' for a better country, but then I scroll down and see the same old b.s. below.


Way to help with bringing about change :(

the mostly reverend said...

once again, anonny, i don't know WHAT the hell you're talking about.
[after checking] oh, the mustache thing scared you? oh, please. you probably won't like the bike saddle video i just posted, either.
but i remain hopeful that you will.

the mostly reverend said...

anonny: freese-notis? shouldn't you be fixing our crappy weather? don't waste your time on this nonsense.

mark hoback said...

Nice piece, Rev. And hey, you've got some good looking family.

the mostly reverend said...

thanks, mark; and to you and yours, as well.
good luck with your change; i believe in that, too.

Anonymous said...

didn't figure you would know what I was talking about. Nice way to slam the folks in your party-idiot.

Anonymous said...

Nice! Thanks Kim.
Chad

the mostly reverend said...

hey, anonny: is this your first visit to the orphanage?
i just report that shit; hillary is the one who's getting quoted by mcsame, not ME.

YOU'RE the idiot, in case you haven't noticed. go read the latest republican tell-all book, and polish your spin skills.
i'd say they are a bit deficient.

Anonymous said...

show me, their brainiac where exactly Hillary had that picture taken? Why the b.s. comments about the phone-you know it is an uneeded cheap shot.

Isn't the party trashed enough with this primary where over 500 mm was spent to elect B, and now we have dbags like you running our party down-nice?

By the way not a republican but with democrats like you maybe i should be more wary of my political choices-idiot.

Try activating the two brain cells you have left and think before you post.

the mostly reverend said...

gee, anonny, but don't you seem a little humorless today?

comedy 101:
1--the phone represents "irony" in that it is ironic that your gal hillary used the very same prop to lambast obama about his inability to make snap decisions in the middle of the night, and yet SHE was unable to anticipate the inevitable, needing from tuesday until saturday to muster the right response.
2--the second photo was taken from the des moines register.

no, wait, it is photo shop, dip-shit.

i wouldn't worry too much about the democratic party. folks like me have done much more to help over the years than you could ever dream of un-doing by your switch.
and a sense of humor helps us to get through it. take a dump, and ease the burden on your thought processes.

Anonymous said...

corky
My choice wasn't and isn't Hill(nor for that matter b). It was another Dem whom you liked...a lot. But what the fuck we got hill and b that spent 500 mm to get aholes like you to skewer the other. Yahoo go Dems.

Yeah that irony is great laughs. That photo shop shit is fucking priceless. Good stuff. Pitiful when you don't know what a hypothetcial question is.

You seem to be a little to full of yourself and your political accomplishments-this is like listening to Pete Basso pontificate.

the mostly reverend said...

hypothetcial?

have you never been through the nomination process? this shit happens all the time, corky. relax. party unity and good feelings will do its thing. upset blue collars and angry women will vent and then think rationally--although some won't--and the sun will come up tomorrow.

like the republicans weren't shooting barbs at each other. and just watch, this WILL be a higher-level campaign cycle between now and november. biden, i hope, will play some significant role in both the campaign and the obama administration.
frankly, i'd prefer him as secretary of state over veep.