Thank you, Iowa

Give it up for the indefatigable Obama Girl!

First of all, I dig the Iowa Caucus. Ohio and other big states get their turn to tell Americans what to do in the general election. Iowa forces candidates to meet barflies and livestock alike, to hang out, tired as hell, in living rooms and feed stores and corner bars and Maid-Rites. For, like, a year. So it's quirky, it's different, it takes more than five minutes. It's still like a Norman Rockwell painting. I can't imagine it any other way.

And this time, feeling the pressure of a judgemental, jealous nation, they blew away the pundit class by showing up, all diverse and multi-generational. It was an historic night, and Iowa showed killer chops, and put on a great show. We won't ever forget it. This feeling may be fleeting, so why not just pause and revel in its enormity? For one brief, shining moment...

Watching Obama's speech, I felt like it was Kennedy 1960. Sure, I wasn't born yet, but that's the point. It felt like a rendezvous with history, I could picture all of us in a newsreel, and as a keen observer of politics, I've never felt anything like that before. I'm misty-eyed, and selfishly pleased to discover I'm not nearly as cynical as I thought.

That was one beautiful family on that stage in Iowa. I could hardly believe my eyes. We are all a part of this.

Happy New Year!

Edit: A friend of mine said last night, "He sounded like Martin Luther Kennedy." Good one, Jon! I really can't think of a better way to describe that speech. :-)

Update, 11:20 pm, 1-8-09: Well, alrighty then. New Hampshire also picked Paul Tsongas, but no sour grapes here. OK, maybe a few, and maybe it's a midwestern thing. Maybe we're all just a little bit stunned. Chris Matthews looks stunned, not that it puts me in good company. I actually think I might get sick if I watch him for one minute longer.

A woman on the radio talked about revolution
When its already passed her by
Bob Dylan didn't have this to sing about you
You know it feels good to be alive

I was alive and I waited, waited
I was alive and I waited for this

Right here, right now
There is no other place I want to be
Right here, right now
Watching the world wake up from history

I saw the decade in
When it seemed the world could change at the blink of an eye
And if anything
Then there's your sign of the times

I was alive and I waited, waited
I was alive and I waited for this
Right here, right now

- Jesus Jones, "Right Here, Right Now"

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