And they're off...

Watching the Democratic debate was thrilling in that it gave me a feeling I hadn’t experienced during a political speech in years: it was this feeling of, well… it was the absence of shame. After eight years of listening to Bush, hearing a politician speak without stumbling seems like the presence of a master rhetorician at work. I’m now dazzled by three-syllable words coming from a podium. A complex sentence? Be still my heart.

While I’m still not aligned with any one candidate, I’ve become quite fond of Edwards. I’ve made a chart showing each of the candidates and their stances on issues, and the Edwards column is by far the most specific and impressive. My initial opinion of him was an underestimate: his specific plans for universal healthcare, environmental regulations, the Iraq War and so on have distinguished him as not only a serious contender, but also have earned him his liberal stripes.

And Hillary recovered some serious ground for me last night. Her recent pandering (flag burning? really?) has been painful, but last night she impressed me (her answers on Iraq and healthcare, especially). The e-mail she sent in response to last week’s Supreme Court ruling was a good one. Saying she’d put Bill to work as an international ambassador? I’m swooning! She’s back, baby; she’s back.

Obama. Ahhh, Obama. I want to like him more than I do. He’s a wonderful speaker. His ideas are so pretty. He makes you feel that the country would hug if only he was elected. I haven’t heard him say anything, though, that distinguishes his views from the standard moderate-left. His column on my chart is lacking – general ideas, no specifics. I’m not counting him out, but I need more.

I especially enjoyed the presence of Kucinich and Gravel, who, due to their snowball-in-hell chance, have the freedom to speak unpopular ideas (a la Sharpton; I really dug him in 2004). A Democratic debate without a staunch anti-war presence would be lacking. Sure, the American people won’t go for it because our society is built around war (our holidays, our monuments, our history books…), but it was fantastic to hear views from the real left. Gravel was like that drunk guy at a party who makes everyone roll their eyes, yet shift their weight uncomfortably due to some hard truths in his rants. To hear him say that the deaths of soldiers in Vietnam and Iraq were in vain was shocking to hear from an elected official (who usually dodge the issue with the standard, “I support our troops and the sacrifice that they and their families are making…”). I also enjoyed the dramatics of Kucinich holding up a pocket copy of the Constitution while explaining his decision to go it alone to try to impeach Cheney. Even if these guys will never present a State of the Union , they’ll force the top-tier candidates to answer some uncomfortable questions and remind Americans that there are options beside the flag-in-one-hand, gun-in-the-other approach.

Here's the soapbox portion of my blog: I don’t know how to end this without being melodramatic, so I’ll just say that if one of the people on that stage last night does not get elected as president, our country is done for (how’s that for melodrama?). Find your favorite candidates, sign up for their e-mails, learn their views. If a candidate doesn’t strike your fancy yet, find your issues and the groups that will support them best. Throw a few bucks their way. And for the love of all things good and holy, register to vote. I'm sick of hearing people rant about politics, but then not actively learn the issues or contribute to campaigns or interest groups. Make this a priority. We can’t screw this up again.

John Flippin' McCain

Like many liberals, I once cited McCain as my token Republican friend. I could say, “I’m not partisan! I like John McCain!” just as racists claim to have that one black friend. Even when I disagreed with him, I still respected McCain because he seemed to act according to principle and not polls. He even compelled me to vote in the Virginia Republican primary to show some McCain lovin’.

How times have changed. It’s been about a year of painful McCain sightings (which he aptly kicked off at Bob Jones U., in case we had any doubt of his intentions), as he’s de-evolved from a man of integrity to a Bush groupie. Even with diminished expectations of him, I still hid my head under a blanket during his interview on last night’s Daily Show (what was up with his leading with an IED joke? nothing like a little IED humor during a war, eh? and then going right into dog-kicking… he seems to have taken a lesson in the Alec Baldwin school of diplomacy).

The scariest part... this is just the the kind of behavior that gets a man elected. Shudder.

If you missed last night's interview, here you go:

Virginia Tech

I don’t know what to write about Virginia Tech, but feel compelled to write something. My heart breaks for the friends and families grieving because someone they loved died in such a horrible and unnecessary manner. I am so intensely angry at that kid who… ugh, there aren’t words for him.

I also feel heartbroken for the thousands of students who will live differently now: less innocently; more accepting of fear. It's not as though this was the first event to chip away at their security either. During grade school, these students heard about Columbine; during high school, it was 9/11. So many Tech students are from the DC area and coped with even more: the duct-tape-and-plastic-sheeting suggestion in case of radioactive attack, the gloves for possible anthrax in their mail, the zigzag walking pattern advised to prevent a sniper hit. These suggestions became instant punchlines to adults, but at their root was a continual reminder of lurking danger. This was the time in DC when we'd casually debate the ramifications of a smallpox outbreak or nuclear attack, and this was their normalcy in high school. The worst news to travel around my high school was Kurt Cobain's suicide.

Several years later, many of these DC-area kids went to Tech and encountered an escaped armed convict on campus in August and the worst mass-shooting in American history in April. What do we tell them? Who can tell them not to worry, everything will be OK? They have come of age during the scariest domestic terrorism of our generation (with unusual attention focused on students: Columbine, the snipers, now this). For myself and most college students, high school and college were places of absolute safety and security. They were the real world on training wheels. We weren’t fearful for our safety but we assumed it, and everyone should have such luxury.

Soon, 4/16/07 will become every group’s Titanic: a giant, tragic metaphor only meant to prove various ideologies regarding gun control, censorship, mental health, and so on. Some of them will have good points; many won’t. We have to remember that for these kids, the day wasn’t a metaphor, but a real day when 32 innocent people died while sitting in their classrooms or dorm, and the innocence of thousands more disappeared. And all we can really say is, we’re so sorry.

Can beauty transcend the ordinary?

Never before has the Style section been so painful to read. Even more painful: honestly asking myself if I would have stopped. I think I would have, I really do. I think...

No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside the Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made. His performance was arranged by The Washington Post as an experiment in context, perception and priorities -- as well as an unblinking assessment of public taste: In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?

It didn't.

So go and notice something pretty where you don't expect to find it. I'll still be here angsting over what I would have done.