Hope

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Did you watch the speech?

Of course, you watched the speech.

I feel so determined, so full of steel in the spine, so confident that we can make it through this dire time without having it turn into an even more dire time. I know now why so many people revered Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

I felt this way – a little this way – once before, when Bill Clinton was elected President. That night in 1992, I was invited by a small, low-powered TV station to be one of their commentators on the local elections. Inevitably, the question of Clinton’s election came up. I remember that I said that Clinton was a man with greatness in him. I predicted he would accomplish great things. But I also said that he had great weaknesses, and that it remained to be seen which would dominate his Presidency.

I was really sorry to be right in that prediction. I wanted him to succeed so badly. And he did accomplish some great things. He brought us out of the budget mess we were in and he made us face up to the need to reform the welfare system. He took us boldly into the global economy. But he also brought us more deregulation – and Monica.

But Obama.

It’s not that I think he is the Messiah, as the Republicans would have you believe. I don’t. He will make mistakes. He has already made some. Not everything he proposes will work, but at least he will try.

But most important, he makes me believe in myself again. He makes me believe that the American spirit is different. We can find a way to better ourselves as a nation. We can hold fast to stern principles in the face of adversity. We can do whatever we really set our minds to.

And I think he will help us set our minds to solving this problem, to great things.

I feel hopeful again.
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