Quiet Monday

Today is the quietest Monday I can remember. Everyone seems to be waiting with baited breath for the big day tomorrow. Yes, I think this will be an election to remember, an election that will be talked about for years to come. I will be very surprised if Obama does not win.

Predictably, Andrew Sullivan writes a passionate plea for Obama.

I will vote for Obama tomorrow and for tomorrow night, should he win, feign excitement at the possibility for hope and change and all the rest of the empty sloganeering.

But the world is the world and the day after tomorrow the insoluble problems we face will still be insoluble. Iran will still pursue nukes. The loons in Pakistan will inch closer to seizing power. Al Queda Central will still plot attacks against us. Iraq and the rest of the Middle East will be a mess. Our economy will be troubled for years to come. We may see inflation. We may see higher unemployment. And individual troubles and miseries and misfortune will continue.

Likewise, good things may happen. We might find ourselves extricating our army from Iraq with a fragile ally in power. Americans might curb our insatiable debt spending as opportunities for cheap credit dries up. Shady bankers and irresponsible lenders may go out of business. Maybe we'll discover alternative fuels should gas prices remain high. And maybe, Al Queda Central will wear down after years of being hunted, get sloppy, and be brought to justice for 9/11.

Less likely, but still possibly, the world will start to like us a little bit better.

All these things - good and bad - may happen because or despite Obama (should he win).

Am I cynical about Obama? Yes. To have so many people ascribing so hope to the guy...it makes me uneasy. Who looks to political figures to change their lives? Not me. I lived through the 1990s - an era of good feelings. And as I look back, I feel like a fool. Because the mess the world is in right now (if I am to believe everything I read) is in large part attributable to forces gathering during that time. So forgive me for not drinking the koolaid.

The Republicans deserve to lose. Sullivan is right about the torture. The torture is inexcusable. It is inexcusable from all levels - the people who did it should have refused, their bosses should have been fired, people should have resigned in shame.

It would be silly to say the election doesn't matter. My malaise could easily be interpreted as nihilistic. I know. The election matters. We just don't know how much or in what way yet. Al Gore made a smart point at the Democratic convention - many thought in 2000 that the two parties were the same - that there was no difference between them. Looking back, had Gore won those 537 votes in Florida, the world would be a lot different today. Maybe better, maybe worse - we can't know.