Supporters of Barack Obama have been called starry-eyed hope-mongers and Kool-Aid drinkers from the very beginning of the primary season.
Most who expected the Clinton machine to prevail, including Senator Clinton herself, warned that Obama was offering substance-less bromides and giving the people of this nation false hope. We were told to "get real."
And it was easy to fall into the trap of underestimating the motives behind the fervor of Obama's crowds. After all, there was quite a bit of fainting and chanting going on, and perhaps too little talk of actual solutions in those raucous arenas.
But if you visited the Obama strongholds on the Net, places like Daily Kos, and read closely, you might have noticed something different. People who had never paid any attention to politics before, never cared too much about the issues or their local elections, were suddenly asking, "What can I do? How can I help?"
I was one of those people. As a 25 year-old with a graduate degree, I am perhaps the typical Obama supporter. But my mother, who is a mid-westerner in her 60s, is not. For her, Obama evokes Bobby Kennedy, and his stance on the war reflects her passionate opposition to the Vietnam War, which is really the major force that shaped her life and political beliefs. For her, Obama is a chance to fulfill the promise of the civil-rights and peace movements.
So what was it that prompted us to not just donate (often more than I could afford out of my teacher's salary) after ever victory and every defeat? What inspired my sister and I to drive fearlessly into solid red Wyoming to volunteer, with our Obama bumper sticker stuck proudly to the car? Not blind, maniacal fervor as some have suggested.
It was the belief that this time people like me could actually make a difference. And it was the painful realization that not doing anything for 8 years had made me complicit in the failures of this administration.
Mostly, it was the deep-seated conviction that as an American, I had not just the right but the obligation to help fix health care, provide opportunities for education for all of our citizens, start healing this economy and the planet, and end this war.
And this time, it was having a leader who opened my eyes and made me believe that these things were real possibilities and shared responsibilities.
And still, the chorus of cynics will mock us, laugh at our "hope" and point out that no, we won't be able to do most of the things we think we can. That Obama, as high as we've placed him on his pedestal, will fall and fail. McCain has already started admonishing us, lecturing us with, "That's not change we can believe in."
But we aren't stupid. We know we will have to fight to make this country a better place. We know we won't always succeed, but as JFK said in his inaugural speech, "All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days; nor in the life of this Administration; nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin."
Am I afraid that the long primary season has left us too divided? Yes, especially when I see sites like the new "Hillary Clinton Supporters for John McCain." Do they really think they're supporting their candidate by voting against everything she stands for?
But I am also heartened by the sense of unity that seems to be sweeping the opposing camps. MYDD, for example, seems to be rallying behind our nominee. And did you know, a new poll shows that we trail McCain by only 8 points in West Virgnia?
And so fellow hope-mongers, we may not be able to do it all, but let us begin.