“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King - Aug. 28th, 1963
Every four years it happens... I watch the Democratic convention and I get played like a violin. The speakers trot out my most deeply held values and highest aspirations. Too often that's just been prelude to another crushing disappointment in the form of electoral defeat. This is a pattern that started for me in 1972 when at the tender age of 13 I was already so horrified by Richard Nixon that I volunteered to stuff envelopes and even help walk precincts for George McGovern. The choice between Nixon and McGovern seemed so clear to me, and it was something of a trauma to wake up and realize that most of America couldn't see it. There was nothing subtle about that election: McGovern lost every state but Massachusetts, and the Democratic party started playing defense in every presidential election ever since.
But something's different this year.
George Carlin said "Scratch any cynic, and you'll find a disappointed idealist." I don't think I ever went all the way irrevocably into cynicism, but after the McGovern defeat, something definitely changed in me. I started gravitating towards the works of the smart-ass caucus: the literature and poetry of other broken idealists: Vonnegut, Twain, Votaire, Swift, Lennon. People whose snark masked a deep hurt, a longing for more from humanity than it delivered. More justice, more wisdom, more kindness and compassion. Less hatred, ignorance and violence. And I didn't have to look that far back to see what happened to the progressive leaders like JFK, RFK and MLK. For a long time I was convinced that politics was a lost cause.
It was 31 years before I'd again work for another candidate after McGovern... but I always voted. And I always listened to what the Democrats had to say at their convention. And it usually inspired... I'd often tear up.
If the skeptic in me thought that many of these folks were just playing the crowd, just trying to advance their own quest for status and power, well, at least their brand of bullshit appealed to me. The GOP couldn't manage that: their attempts to appeal to me just appalled me. So I've been a registered Democrat from Day One.
But I've never been as inspired, I've never been as proud to be a Democrat as I am right now. The tears have welled up again and again, and I expect many more tonight. And it feels good.
Because we've just done something I never thought I'd live to see: we've just nominated a black man to be our presidential candidate. Not because of the color of his skin, but because of the content of his character. Because of the eloquence of his words, the agility of his mind, and depth of his convictions. I don't always agree with him, but I respect him deeply. And I trust his judgement and his intellect.
I would have been just as proud for the Democrats to nominate Hillary: that would have been just as historic. Sexism is just as deeply ingrained and is as corrosive and intractable as racism. And she would have been just as deserving. Once again, there's much that I profoundly disagree with Sen. Clinton about, but there is no denying her competency, intelligence and character. She demonstrated tremendous grace over the past few days, and I'm deeply grateful to her for putting the interests of the country - and our party - above her own in such a selfless way.
So here it is, 45 years after Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech, and we are seeing an important milestone. As a party, we have done something incredible. But now we have a task ahead of us as a nation, so test the mettle of the content of our collective national character. And we will be judged by that.
There is no doubt in my mind that racism is - and will remain - an important factor in this election. After 8 disastrous years of the Bush administration, the Republican party's brand is bankrupt. And John McCain isn't offering any positive vision of the future: all he's got to work with are trumped-up personal smears and attacks against Barack Obama. He and his party have been an abysmal failure, and there's no way he should be running so close to Barack Obama. Racism is deeply and intrinsically embedded in American history and American politics. It's not as overt as it was as recently as 45 years ago, but now it comes up in a variety of coded "dog whistles", with words like "Muslim" and "patriotism". And "do we really know him"?
And even someone as talented and charismatic as Barack Obama can't make that vanish overnight.
I do have hope that Barack Obama's fundamental trust in the power of the grassroots will both validate the 50 state strategy and propel him to victory with a ground game the likes of which the Republicans have never seen. But it's going to take work. We need to push away from our computers and talk to our friends and neighbors. We're going to have to give money, again and again. We're going to have to work hard for Senate and Congressional candidates, too.
This can be a "change" election. This can be the turning point that allows us to truly face and meet the challenges ahead. I have hope that we can accomplish this with Obama's leadership and our own skills and resources. Never doubt that it will take all of us to do this.
I've never been so proud to be a Democrat.