Until he dropped out of the race, Richardson was my guy, and I hadn't paid much attention to Obama even though I was blown away by his speech at the 2004 convention. The first of Obama's campaign speeches that I saw was his Iowa victory speech. He spoke a lot about hope that night. Of course, I was impressed by the speech. I was also amazed that Hillary had given Obama the space to become the messenger of hope. After all, Bill Clinton ended every speech in 1992 with the line, "I still believe in a place called Hope." Democrats love hope; maybe even more than Republicans love fear.
Times seemed tough nine months ago. Many people were struggling, bankruptcies and foreclosures were at an all-time high, and the lack of adequate health care continued to impact more and more families. As it turns out, those were the good old days.
Today, the economy seems to be riding a train that is headed for an abyss, and nobody knows how to stop it. And it's not just America's economy; it's the entire world. As it turns out, a lot of people's money was invested with companies that used that money to buy investments that are now worthless. Not in the infamous sub-prime mortgages market, but in the totally unregulated market of crapola paper, a market that is trillions of dollars larger than the gross domestic product of the world. A market that collapses a little more each time a major bank goes under and investors who bet that such a collapse wouldn't happen are required to pony up with money they don't have.
I don't really understand all the economics of it, but I'm a good enough judge of people to be able to tell that no one knows how bad this is going to get before it ends, or even if our attempts to stop it or slow it down will have any kind of affect whatsoever.
This seems like a really good time (at least for me, personally) to reflect on the things in life that are really important, and to remind myself that material things are not. Losing my possessions, and maybe even my home, would be extremely uncomfortable, but I would find a way to carry on.
The prospect of starting over at the age of 55 is a little daunting, but hope makes it easier... all kinds of hope... hope that we can once again become a nation of people who look out for each other instead of just looking out for ourselves... hope that health care will soon be recognized by our government as a right... hope that the free nations of the world will respect us again... hope that soon our leaders in Washington won't rest until the economy is put on a steady path for us all.
Like Bill Clinton, I too believe in a place called Hope. That place is Iowa... and Nevada... and Colorado... and Virginia... and Ohio... and Florida... and more. Hope is the wave that will lift us up above the perils of these times. Hope is the salve that will heal our wounds at least enough to try again tomorrow. Hope is the music that reminds us it is good to be alive.
I believe in Hope, and I will vote for it's messenger, Barack Obama.