With health care reform in the bag, with all the tears and joy and overwhelming relief, amidst the celebratory returns to Blackwaterdog's Best Photo Diary Ever (it is), amidst the gleeful conversations with like-minded co-workers, relatives and friends, I find an odd, looming sense of something missing.
That something is a big job. Health Care Reform has been my bread and butter, my daily agony and rare moment of happy hope, for more than a year. I made GOTV calls for Coakley, went to meetings of OFA, called and wrote my congresspeople until I thought one more note from me would be more irritating than anything else, I coughed up funds for TV ads, candidates, BoldProg and ActBlue as well as OFA. I put my heart into it.
God, winning feels good. So good. What a great, great day. What a week. But I find myself thinking, now what?
I'm ready for another big job. I'm ready for financial reform, although I'd be poorly qualified to parse it. I'm ready for a big move on climate change. Immigration reform, anyone?
Today, though, I thought of the ultimate fight. What if this president, this generation, us, were the ones to suck it up, raise taxes and lower spending to get this country out of debt? That would make us the greatest generation in American history. I know we can't do it right this minute; we need to get the economy moving right now.
But someday, someone will have to do it. It's going to take political will, a strong sense of moral duty, a huge amount of inspiring leadership, and a great deal of adult-ness to do this very necessary thing. And I know someone who has it.
Oh, well. Maybe in 2011.
The beautiful thing is that I can have those thoughts today. Those soaring, impossible thoughts. Because seven presidents tried to do what this one did, and didn't wind up in the end zone. This one got to spike the ball. Alright, maybe it was a field goal. But it's a huge, huge win. And after that, I find myself wondering, what else could we do? A two-state solution in Israel? A green economy? Real immigration reform? The end of DADT? (ha ha, had to throw that in, 'cause that wasn't looking any too promising either, until after the SOTU.) Maybe the end of DOMA? Who knows?
Whatever the next fight is, though, count me in.