08.23.08
History in the Making
Four years ago I was sitting in a pizza joint reading a book and waiting for my order to come up. The big television in the corner was blaring political stuff on CNN. I had given up on convention coverage decades ago. Gone was the spectacle and the pomp of choosing a candidate for POTUS. 2000 had made me even more cynical and bereft of much hope. 2004 was shaping up to be the same. John Kerry was the “anyone but Bush” candidate with little to offer except his firecracker of a wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. If we had been voting for FLOTUS, she would have gotten my vote gladly.
In the background the noise on the TV got louder and I looked up. There, on the stage was a tall, thin man with a mellifluous voice. I put my bookmark in place and leaned forward, barely noticing when my pizza arrived. Gone now are the words from my memory but I remember the tiny spark of hope. An unknown man, a great orator was speaking in a way that made me begin to believe that there was hope for the Democratic Party and for the country, for me. I knew then and there that this was a man destined for great things and was the one to pay attention to in the future. It’s the first time in my life that I remembered the name of the keynote speaker.
I don’t remember the words but I remember the name, Barack Obama, presumptive Democratic Presidential candidate for 2008.