Saturday, January 26, 2008

Shrill Bill

The Economist has a great article on the messed-up Clinton machine.

They point out:

By most reckonings the Republicans should be doomed. But the Clintons' tactics are alienating blacks and young people. The Clintons are in the process of doing the impossible: making the 2008 election a referendum on them, rather than on the Republicans. And the Republicans are inching towards nominating their one candidate, Mr McCain, who has broad popular appeal.

In contrast, Obama's speech brought chills to my spine again tonight. He gets it.

He reminds me of my daughter's school. On paper - it should be a failure. Most of the kids are poor. Most of them aren't white. Many don't speak English.

People actually move out of our neighborhood so their kids don't have to attend this school. I'm not kidding.

But, if they only knew. See - this school...this school has hope. And joy. And promise.

There are plenty of problems. The school doesn't have money. Most of the teachers are young. There's no fancy equipment or extra-curriculars. The school has all the difficult issues you would expect a school with poverty to have. It's far from perfect.

But the passion it inspires amongst *all* of us who are connected to the school -- really, I've never seen anything like it. (Hell, I became PTA President and if that isn't crazy, I don't know what is.) And not just PTA people - the teachers, the students, the other parents - everyone.

When I see Obama speak, he seems to bring out that kind of passion. I get very excited when I think of our country embodying the spirit of D's school. Just imagine what we could accomplish.

Bill, you can call it a "fairy tale" all you want. We're not listening to you any more.

1 comment:

Bridgett said...

It is SO frustrating. I get so tired of being the underdog, which seems to be what you're saying here, at least a bit. Not that I want to switch. I just want others to see that where I stand, it isn't so bad. Come stand with me.