Two different (and fabulous) women I know voted absentee this week. They both reported tearing up while filling out their ballots. And not because of the very real threat many absentee votes face; our Town Clerk is scrupulous. No, both my 75-year old mother and a friend close to my age independently and unprompted reported the same experience: the act of voting moved them to tears.
There is no politics too cynical for me to consider. Some days I'm on the side that thinks American democracy is all bread and circuses and that an international cabal of hyper wealthy, sexually dysfunctional and otherwise questionable inbreds controls the globe. Other days I'm pessimistic. But, crying at the polls? That is some very good bread.
I come from Irish immigrants and Red Sox fans. My people understand gloom and foreboding. So I am not convinced that a happy outcome to this election is a foregone conclusion. But these two smart and ridiculously kind-hearted women told me that voting for Obama made them cry. I'm clinging to that shred of genuine uplift as I white knuckle it towards Tuesday night.