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  Observations on dreams and fears towards the end of the election campaigns by Martin Zehr, Kansas City
Here, in the very center of the country, in the city New Yorkers fly over on their way to Los Angeles, or vice versa, interest in the outcome of the presidential election is as strong as it is anywhere, in the nation and the world. Every election is advertised as representing the most important choice of a generation, even a lifetime, and, this time, the warning may just be true. After seven and a half years of self-inflicted degradation and destruction, there is, it appears, at least the opportunity to stop the bleeding, here and abroad. The surreal, continuing nightmare endured by Americans, and therefore, the world, since the "election" of Bush in 2000, at least has an ending within reasonable anticipation, something like a late Christmas present for humanity. Undoing some of the damage, however, is a task now dependent on the perceptiveness of the electorate in these next few weeks.
Can we really swallow the notion of John McCain, the war hero who still believes the Vietnam disaster could have been "won," as a representative of change from the cowboy diplomacy of the Bush era? Even that most cynical of acts, adding a gun-toting, choice-hating, oil-loving woman to the Republican party ticket shouldn't fool anyone with an ounce of sense- but it will, believe me, it will. If you can't fool 'em with your stands on the important domestic and international issues, at least distract 'em. No one, it seems, has ever lost an election here by underestimating the intelligence of the average voter.
On the other hand, unbelievable as it still seems in this country, with its continuing history of entrenched racism, there is a glimmer of real statistical hope that a man of African-American ancestry could take up residence in the White House occupied by old white men for over two centuries. The notion, by itself, is somewhat mind-boggling, but for those of us who remain stubbornly optimistic despite the reality of American politics, the hope of Barack Obama's victory is the hope that, after all the evidence to the contrary, we can somehow save ourselves and rejoin the community of reason. Not since the campaign of Bobby Kennedy in 1968 have we been able to watch and listen to a politician whose combination of personal energy, oratory, persistence and intelligence is so needed, a salve to the wounded, starving sufferers of the Bush-Cheney class warfare.
Obama's personal story, moreover, is as inspiring and heroic as that of his campaign adversary, who cannot, after all, understand the virtual impossibility of overcoming the obstacles of racism, poverty and single parenthood, not to mention the "burden" of a funny name. In the United States the myth persists that anyone, regardless of circumstances, can grow up to be President. Some myths, however, like Santa Claus and the tooth fairy, could use a little validation and if, by some miracle, I can awake to the announcement of President Obama on the fifth day of November, I'll gladly donate a molar and place some milk and cookies under the Christmas tree.
Even those of us who can fantasize about the possibility of President Obama taking the oath on a cold January morning realize that the occurrence would not mark the second coming of Camelot, not with the economic, political and moral shambles left to us by the corporate and military escapades of the Bush-Cheney regime. Moreover, the tendency for the desperate, and, for us liberals, the label fits, to canonize the articulate, newly-anointed leader of the Democratic Party is tempered by the realization that no one individual can expect to undo the determined deterioration that marks the last eight years. Obama is no saint, of course, and has even shown us that he, too, is not devoid of old-time political instincts, most notably when he failed to take the opportunity to put both feet in the twenty-first century by picking Hillary Clinton as his running mate. Nevertheless, if half a loaf is better than none, the starving liberals in this country won't go to bed quite as hungry if Obama succeeds.
Finally, a note of realism. With only a few short weeks to go until election day, we can hold onto this dream, but, after the last two presidential contests, the prospect of extreme disappointment cannot be denied. We are, after all, living in the country which invented large-scale corporate advertising, the means by which we are sold items which we don't want, don't need, and can't afford. Why, under such circumstances, should we be surprised if the newly-remade McCain, advertising himself as the reforming change agent, the one who can clean up the mess created by his own party, crosses the electoral finish line the winner? We have, after all, seen this movie before. Still, like the purchaser of a lottery ticket, enjoying the chance to dream, if only for twenty-four hours, we persist in the belief that the so-called ideals upon which this country was founded, especially the opportunity to rebel from the shackles of past mistakes, are yet alive, if not well.
Dr. Martin D. Zehr is a clinical psychologist, living and working in Kansas City, Missouri, and his hobbies are Mark Twain and motorcycling.
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