I'd Vote for Her

Two months ago, Belly went with her folks to Chicago to attend the wedding of one of The Great FiveHead's best friends. Many thanks to Grandma Joy for sending a bunch of beautiful photos of that weekend.

Mummy Plotnik's take on the debate last night: "Ehhh. The same thing over and over again." Plottie agrees with her, as far as what they said. But words are not what people are listening to anymore. What they are looking for are the unspoken clues, the intangible guidelines. It seems to Plotnik that what was true six months ago is even truer today -- what we saw at last night's debate was a painfully stooped, cynical old man trying to fend off a ramrod straight, unflustered young man. This has always been what this election is about and appears to be staying true, at least so far.

If John McCain looked more like Isabella, he would have an easier time. Criminy, Plotnik might even vote for him. Put The Great FiveHead on the ticket and it's a landslide.



But what James Carville, one of the Democratic Talking Heads, said after the debate really stirred something up inside Plotnik. Carville, who admittedly looks like he was abducted by aliens and then they threw him back, posited about what might happen if the election predictions show Obama ahead the day before election day, by his current margin of 6 to 8 points, which is to say an insurmountable polling edge, but then McCain actually wins? What will it say about America?

It might say that people like McCain more. But it might also point out a more sinister and more frightened side of the American people that they would never admit to pollsters, or worse yet, even realize themselves until they are about to pull down the lever. It might be a little bit of both.

All the current Democratic self-congratulatory chucklers ought to wake up and smell the Budweiser. Even though Plot thinks this election stopped being purely about race after Hillary failed to make it so, the country will still need to trust a black man (who is not Colin Powell) as commander in chief in troubling times. And be assured that we are in for 29 days of constant Republican hammering on that subject, and there is always the possibility of a terrorist attack somewhere in the world that Fox can blame on Obama.

In reality, people realize by now that Barack Obama is not Tupac. (A shame, really, from a musical standpoint.) He does not scare people; quite the opposite, there is nothing more frightening than self delusion, and that was brought home last night by hearing John McCain call himself 'the firm hand at the tiller.'

John McCain: Financial deregulation. 100 years of war. Sarah Palin. Firm.

Still, what we think we know with certainty often turns out to be our own self deception. What should happen, based on the past eight years -- a total victory of Democrats in every election across the land -- will not happen, and if it did we should really be frightened. Democrats will become as drunk with power as Republicans have proven to be. Power breeds corruption. We have been here before.

So it's not over. Plotnik hopes people vote not for Democrats but good Democrats, not for Republicans but good Republicans. If we have ever needed vision, we need it now.

But coming back to the beginning of this posting: there is nothing as intoxicating as self confidence. Plotnik hopes Isabella grows up to be as sure of herself as Sarah Palin seems to be, as Hillary Clinton seems to be, as Barack Obama seems to be. Self confidence can move the world. You just have to put yourself on the right side.