The Vibe



If you didn’t get the vibe during Iowa, then you had to feel it last night.



I know that I personally have not felt so buoyed up since Clinton was the president.



It was all about HOPE….



And I was ready for it after seven years of bashing the TV every time the boy idiot showed up with his pack of liars trying to blow us off with their contrived messages that ignored everyone in this country’s middle class.



Yes, I was angry most especially because they thought we were all stupid and so easy to manipulate.



Most of my friends didn’t get engaged: they were too busy trying to pay the bills and put food on the table.



For me, it was the realization that our country was so easy to take over that bowled me over.



Nobody even made a sound!



To me, that seemed worse than Nazi Germany.



Where were all of the great minds, the big mucky mucks who talked volumes about freedom and saving the great Republic; yes, we really needed saving then and nobody came forward.



But last night it was different.



I was no longer alone.



It seemed everybody in the country felt the same way I did.



Even the Republicans surveyed in New Hampshire indicated that 51% of them either felt dissatisfied or downright angry about the Bush presidency and wanted change.



That fit in with what I was seeing in my conservative neck of the woods, at the country clubs and the other local spots where middle aged republicans hang out.

Over the course of the last several years, my republican friends were more outspoken about this government than some of my middle-of-the road, turn the other cheek friends.


And last night it showed.



One thing you have to say, the republicans elected a man who seems to have retained most of his integrity. He’s not the kind of guy Bush & Company would seem identified with. And he pulled his duty; he didn't try to get out of serving his country with a host of sinecures and then playing armchair patriot.



Nor is Huckabee. With all of his faults, he still seems like a human being with compassion.



But Obama, Hillary and Edwards gave me reason to hope again, to believe that we could be all that we could be.



Not that I so much cared for myself. But I wanted my grand-kids to have the same kind of opportunities I’ve had in my life. And I want them to know about hope and “possibilities.” I wanted them to know how a poor kid who grew up in Harlem could go on and live the American dream and do all the things that most immigrants come here for. And that it was still possible in my America.



Yes, I got that adrenalin rush that comes with feeling hope again.



And it was fed by the legions of young and old alike who came out to vote.



And it was nourished by the wonderful speeches of Obama and Hillary that were among the best speeches I’ve heard since Bobby, John and Martin. Speeches that were wonderful because they talked about possibilities, and inclusiveness --speeches that filled our longing and satisfied our souls.



What it showed was that the American hunger for freedom is innate; that we all crave pretty much the same thing; that we are peace loving people who want the best for their children; who believe that there is something more about life than shoving money into a vault.



And that made me feel good.



Dare I say it? I felt hopeful again.