The Trail (interlude)

Real soon my kids and I will be getting in my vehicle while it is still dark out, go pick up my Dad, and set out on a full day's travel to the U.S.

I've taken the time off work, bought health/travel insurance (we don't need any inside Canada - medicare is fully transportable), made sure my auto package policy (additional $2M liability, etc) is up to date (we get basic insurance with our plates [$750 deductible, $750,000 liability - no really big lawsuits because the health system pays for any medical or rehab] - most people just go with basic plate coverage).

We're going to see Barack Obama speak.

Yeah

A day in my life to hear a politician speak. One that isn't even Canadian. A day of my kids' lives. My Dad? Well - he's retired and his soul was lost to the oblivion of politics so very long ago. So it's not like he has any misgivings about this trip... It's actually going to be two days because we're staying overnight and driving back the next day.

I was up for it in less than half a second.

My kids were up for it in about the same length of time.

At least the three of us think we need to get a life.

Dad... he's still Dad.

Barack Obama is the most exciting speaker I have heard in decades. Perhaps my whole life. He's not a socialist like me, but he brings the hope that maybe some of the more unfortunate elements of U.S. political culture can be overcome. I didn't know much about him until I watched his Martin Luther King Day Speech on Youtube" (37 minutes - take the time to watch the whole thing at once).

I wept as I listened.

I've heard a lot of speeches and I'm pretty jaded about them.

I wept as I listened to this one.

Usually I pick apart speeches and presentations in the kind of snotty/insider way that art critics look at art and discuss it. I have written speeches and have delivered speeches that make others weep. But not me. I am inside. I am an inside player. I know the tricks. I know the techniques.

I wept as I listened to this one.

I sent the link to my Dad. He had always been supporting Hillary. He called me back. I said "Wasn't that amazing? ...It made me cry." He said "It can't help but move you. It can't help but make a person cry." I realised that his voice was choked with emotion.

In his life he's given more speeches on the stump, in Parliament, in the legislature than I've even seen. He's written and watched more than that. And his father before him...

And we both choked up.

Listening to this "black guy with a funny name", as one right wing talk radio guy called him.

I had to go.

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I watched this video: Yes We Can - Barack Obama Music Video

And this one. The words that speak? So many of them. How about: "we are the ones we've been waiting for"

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I talked to one of my co-workers about Obama and my reaction to that speech. He said "No matter how jaded and cynical you are, at some level you have to believe... or you couldn't do this job. That belief is what carries you through the shit. And this guy is the real thing. He's saying what he believes. And he's really good at saying it."

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We had put together all the arrangements to go when we discovered that Hillary Clinton has been booked to speak a couple of hours later.

The double bill. (not that Bill - I've already seen Bill speak, by the way. And Al Gore)

Yeah, for a political junkie, this is pretty much as good as it gets.

(The kids get to take the day off school without absence because the schools have confirmed they consider this an educational event)

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I will apologise if my unabashed emotion rubs anyone wrong - especially if you are a Hillary supporter.

I can only speak to how I feel.

I figured Hillary was the deal for years now. I was proud and happy to look forward to seeing her win the nomination and the Presidency.

And then I saw that speech.

Sorry

Hope trumps

I've never seen anyone quite like him

Because, you see, I believe that hope and dreams are real

I believe that hopes and dreams are deliverables

I think that sometimes words are enough

If he is a half-assed capable President - and i believe he will be more than that - and he can stir people's hearts

give young people a reason to buy into the system

make people who think that there is no way out of what we've dug ourselves into as a whole western society and culture

if he just delivers belief

that's enough for me

because i just can't live on cynicism and realpolitik anymore