‘Cause, Senator, you have to jump higher and throw more 3-pointers than any other presidential candidate in American history. And you are a minority whose toughest opponent in this election, not only in the primary but now the general, turns out to be another minority. You can see how we sharpen and polish our claws. And speak irresponsibly too often. Like Jack Nicholson said in As Good As It Gets when asked how he could posess such empathy to create his female narrators, “I think of a man. Then I take away reason and accountability.” I know Hillary Clinton did not believe a single negative word that she said about you during the primary because I know that the campaign run she thought was perfectly timed for victory turned out to be the run of her life. Personally, I grant her a pardon on any nastiness that the MSM only encouraged (shame on an otherwise likable Keith Olbermann here) and I actually regret that history watched the two of you hit the stage simultaneously.
But you won, and now you face every force void of the political integrity that is Hillary Clinton. You may lose. You could have asked her to be your running mate, and she could have turned you down. The female Republican candidate would have happened anyway, because members of the Republican Party want their redemption for choosing George Bush…twice. They are tired of licking their wounds. That’s also why they let McCain have the nomination: none of the others could have beat you.
After the last eight years and all the polls professing the people’s distaste for the last eight years, the electoral map should look like 1992. Yet you strain just to keep a lead, and I think I know why: you’re partly African-American. There…it is said. And it is my generation (baby-boomers) and my mother’s generation (Brokaw’s Greatest) leading the resistance to your election. I believe the majority of kids don’t care about your genealogy-they want to know if you can text. But they are the ones that will be forced to deal with the consequences of our inability to let go of the past just long enough for them to take an initial step towards dealing seriously with the present, let alone the future.
My anger towards these individuals and groups that still perpetuate this racial preference has led to insomnia. I struggle to comprehend how this country can let a chance like this pass us by. As Andrew Sullivan wrote: “This is a remarkable man at a vital moment. American would be crazy to throw this opportunity away. America must not throw this opportunity away.” Honest to God, since I lie awake anyway, I’d howl at the moon if I thought it would help.
But, in the end, what I must do is apologize to you for this country.
America the Beautiful…’til you turn out the light.