Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Football, food, no work, what could be bad? When I was a kid, Thanksgiving Day meant the annual football team between the two local high schools. I never missed it, and when I was in high school myself, I participated in it by being in the marching band. That night, we would always have Thanksgiving dinner at our house. My father would drive into Brooklyn to pick up the grandparents, while my mother would cook the turkey and stuffing and all the extras. She did it all, with only a little bit of help from her mother and her aunt. Pretty amazing, considering we would have anywhere from twenty to thirty people over for dinner.
Times have changed. Thanksgiving now is at my house here in Phoenix. My family will drive up from Tucson to celebrate with us. Too many people are missing from years past: my father, my sister's husband, my grandparents, the great aunts. My aunt and uncle and cousins from New York are too far away to join us. They will all be missed. Even my kids won't be here this year, my stepkids are with their Dad in San Francisco and my daughter will remain in Tucson with her mother. It'll be different.
It seems like there's not a whole lot for me to be thankful for this year, but that would not be the truth. I'm thankful for my wife, the best person I have ever known and the greatest gift that God has ever given me. I'm thankful for my kids, who can drive me crazy at times, but of whom I am so proud. I'm thankful that my mother and siblings live close enough that we can be together for this holiday. I'm thankful for my job, which allows me to live in a nice house in a nice place and allows me to put food on the table for my family. I'm thankful for this great country we live in, and that after eight long years of darkness, we have a new President-elect who has given so much hope to so many. I'm thankful for my health, I know of too many people who haven't lived as long as I.
In reality, there's a whole lot for me to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Statement Games, Part II
So here we were today, Sunday, November 23, 2008. The New York Jets led the AFC East division of the National Football League by one game, and were in Tennessee, facing the undefeated Titans, the best team in the AFC. The Arizona Cardinals led the NFC West by four games, and played host to the reigning NFL champions and the consensus pick for the best team in the entire league thus far, the New York Giants. Did I hear someone say statement game?
The Jets/Titans game came first. The first half was a defensive struggle, but the Jets had dominated time of possession, as their offensive line was controlling the game. They pulled away in the second half, holding onto the ball for 40-plus minutes, and handing the mighty Titans their first loss of the season. Brett Favre played a great, if not exactly flawless, game. However, it was the domination by the Jets' offensive line, and the subsequent effective running game which were the keys to the Jets' victory. To the rest of the league, the Jets boldly made a statement and placed themselves squarely into the Super Bowl conversation.
The Cardinals/Giants game came next. The Giants are undoubtedly the best team in football, excelling in all three phases of the game: offense, defense and special teams. The Cardinals were able to play with them for the most part on offense and defense, but it was special teams which clearly showed the difference. The Giants continually ran back kicks to put them in excellent field position, giving them short fields and leading to touchdowns. The Cardinals' special teams were not bad, but were definitely outclassed. Two mistakes by Kurt Warner, a fumble and an interception, both in Cardinal territory, were huge, and led to Giants scores. An onsides kick with about four minutes left should have been recovered by the Cardinals, but was not. The final score was Giants 37, Cardinals 29. The Cardinals probably played good enough to beat any other team in the league today, but not the Giants. The Giants are playing at a different level than any other team. No one else is even close. The statement made by the Cardinals today is that they are a good team, able to hang tough with the best team in the league, but not quite good enough yet to beat them. Clinching the division will have to wait at least one more week.
Am I concerned? Not at all, the Cardinals will definitely be a factor in the playoffs. Maybe today's loss will be the springboard to their reaching another level, just like the Giants' last game of the regular season loss to the Patriots last year clearly pushed them to a higher level, good enough to win three playoff games on the road, and then beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl. We'll see if today's loss has the same type of effect on the Cardinals.
And the Jets? They look like the real deal, baby. They just might be the best team in the AFC. How in the world did they ever lose to Oakland?
The Jets/Titans game came first. The first half was a defensive struggle, but the Jets had dominated time of possession, as their offensive line was controlling the game. They pulled away in the second half, holding onto the ball for 40-plus minutes, and handing the mighty Titans their first loss of the season. Brett Favre played a great, if not exactly flawless, game. However, it was the domination by the Jets' offensive line, and the subsequent effective running game which were the keys to the Jets' victory. To the rest of the league, the Jets boldly made a statement and placed themselves squarely into the Super Bowl conversation.
The Cardinals/Giants game came next. The Giants are undoubtedly the best team in football, excelling in all three phases of the game: offense, defense and special teams. The Cardinals were able to play with them for the most part on offense and defense, but it was special teams which clearly showed the difference. The Giants continually ran back kicks to put them in excellent field position, giving them short fields and leading to touchdowns. The Cardinals' special teams were not bad, but were definitely outclassed. Two mistakes by Kurt Warner, a fumble and an interception, both in Cardinal territory, were huge, and led to Giants scores. An onsides kick with about four minutes left should have been recovered by the Cardinals, but was not. The final score was Giants 37, Cardinals 29. The Cardinals probably played good enough to beat any other team in the league today, but not the Giants. The Giants are playing at a different level than any other team. No one else is even close. The statement made by the Cardinals today is that they are a good team, able to hang tough with the best team in the league, but not quite good enough yet to beat them. Clinching the division will have to wait at least one more week.
Am I concerned? Not at all, the Cardinals will definitely be a factor in the playoffs. Maybe today's loss will be the springboard to their reaching another level, just like the Giants' last game of the regular season loss to the Patriots last year clearly pushed them to a higher level, good enough to win three playoff games on the road, and then beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl. We'll see if today's loss has the same type of effect on the Cardinals.
And the Jets? They look like the real deal, baby. They just might be the best team in the AFC. How in the world did they ever lose to Oakland?
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Detroit Bail-out
So, the CEO's of the Big Three American car manufactures used their own private planes to fly to Washington to request billions of dollars from the government? That's so sick on so many different levels that I don't know where to begin.
I learned early on in my adulthood that American-made cars were genuinely inferior to foreign-made. My parents owned a ten year-old Mercedes when I got my driver's license, and it drove light years better than any American-made piece of crap. Over the next few years, I owned a hand-me-down Chevy station wagon, a Plymouth Duster, an Oldsmobile Delta 88, and a Ford Pinto. In one way or another, they were all pieces of unadulterated garbage. I'll never forget one time driving home from law school for the weekend in my "blow-up-in-the-back" Pinto, and the damn thing was unable to get up a hill on the Taconic Parkway. I couldn't believe it, we're not exactly talking about a highway in the Rocky Mountains here. What a hunk of junk.
The first new car I bought was a Toyota Corolla in 1988. I turned over the odometer on that car twice, and was working on the third time when I got into an accident and totaled the car through no fault of the vehicle in 2001. That car was built like a tank, and I'm thoroughly convinced that, but for that accident, I would still be driving it.
My next car was a two year-old Dodge Durango. It got a whopping fourteen miles to the gallon, and over the next few years, I probably put between eight and ten thousand dollars worth of work into it. Yes sir, another wonderful piece of Detroit technology. I now drive a Toyota Highlander, one of those mini-SUV things that actually gets almost thirty miles to the gallon, and should still be good twenty years from now. As far as I'm concerned, I will never buy another American vehicle again. That is, unless there are major changes in the American auto industry.
I'm not talking about minor changes, I'm talking about major, industry-revitalizing changes. I'm talking about quality product, a productive work force, competitive pricing, and a total re-structuring of the company compensation system. I guess I'm talking about the auto industry as it exists in Japan. Right, like that will ever happen here. Not when you have the sort of mentality where CEO's fly in private jets to beg for government charity. Disgusting.
So remind me again why in the world my tax dollars should go to bail out this failed industry, which has ripped off the American consumer for the last four decades? Tell me why, if these CEO's are rich enough to own their own jets, they can't improve their businesses without a hand-out from us? Tell me why I should care.
I learned early on in my adulthood that American-made cars were genuinely inferior to foreign-made. My parents owned a ten year-old Mercedes when I got my driver's license, and it drove light years better than any American-made piece of crap. Over the next few years, I owned a hand-me-down Chevy station wagon, a Plymouth Duster, an Oldsmobile Delta 88, and a Ford Pinto. In one way or another, they were all pieces of unadulterated garbage. I'll never forget one time driving home from law school for the weekend in my "blow-up-in-the-back" Pinto, and the damn thing was unable to get up a hill on the Taconic Parkway. I couldn't believe it, we're not exactly talking about a highway in the Rocky Mountains here. What a hunk of junk.
The first new car I bought was a Toyota Corolla in 1988. I turned over the odometer on that car twice, and was working on the third time when I got into an accident and totaled the car through no fault of the vehicle in 2001. That car was built like a tank, and I'm thoroughly convinced that, but for that accident, I would still be driving it.
My next car was a two year-old Dodge Durango. It got a whopping fourteen miles to the gallon, and over the next few years, I probably put between eight and ten thousand dollars worth of work into it. Yes sir, another wonderful piece of Detroit technology. I now drive a Toyota Highlander, one of those mini-SUV things that actually gets almost thirty miles to the gallon, and should still be good twenty years from now. As far as I'm concerned, I will never buy another American vehicle again. That is, unless there are major changes in the American auto industry.
I'm not talking about minor changes, I'm talking about major, industry-revitalizing changes. I'm talking about quality product, a productive work force, competitive pricing, and a total re-structuring of the company compensation system. I guess I'm talking about the auto industry as it exists in Japan. Right, like that will ever happen here. Not when you have the sort of mentality where CEO's fly in private jets to beg for government charity. Disgusting.
So remind me again why in the world my tax dollars should go to bail out this failed industry, which has ripped off the American consumer for the last four decades? Tell me why, if these CEO's are rich enough to own their own jets, they can't improve their businesses without a hand-out from us? Tell me why I should care.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Statement Games
I lived the first half of my life in the Long Island suburbs of New York City, the second half in Arizona. When I was ten years old, Broadway Joe Namath (who just might have been the coolest guy on the planet back then) led the New York Jets to a legendary, almost-mythic upset win over the heavily-favored Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. From that point on, I have been a Jets fan for life. In 1982, I graduated from Law School in Albany, NY, on a Saturday, and moved out to Tucson, Arizona the next day. Arizona had no pro football team then, but the St. Louis Cardinals moved out to the desert a few years later. They landed in Phoenix (Tempe, actually) and called themselves the Phoenix Cardinals back then, but they became Arizona's team. And, although they pretty much sucked and had a total putz for an owner, they became my second team. In retrospect, I don't know what I ever did to deserve such abject misery.
Since the legendary Super Bowl victory in January of 1969, the Jets have not once returned to the Big Game. They've made it to the Conference Finals only twice since then. In 1982, Richard Todd (remember him?) led the team to the Conference Finals, where they played division rival Miami in the Orange Bowl. It rained for about a week before the game, and the field was a muddy mess. The Jets gained about 15 yards in total offense that day, A.J. Duhe of Miami deflected a Todd pass into the air, waited for about three minutes for the ball to fall into his arms, and then slogged through the mud into the end zone. The Jets were shut out in that game, 14-0. It was painful to watch.
In 1999, Vinny Testaverde, who I don't think has ever won a championship game at any level, led the Jets to the Conference Finals again. That year, the game was played in Denver in frigid conditions. Somehow, the Jets kept John Elway in check for the first half, and actually led at halftime 6-0. But the real Elway showed up in the second half, and the Broncos romped to a relatively easy win.
And that's been it. There have been a couple of other playoff appearances, maybe three or four, but they have all been early exits. For the most part, the Jets have been pathetic for the last forty years. They have been soft and inconsistent, and have usually let good players slip away. Cheering for them has been a chore.
But if the Jets have been bad, the Cardinals have been absolutely horrific. In the twenty years since they landed in the desert, the Cardinals have had only one, yes one, winning season. In 1999, the Cardinals somehow managed to go 9-7. The last game of that season was a last-second victory over San Diego, which secured the Cards only playoff berth during their entire tenure in Arizona. The quarterback was Jake Plummer, local college star from Arizona State. The Cards faced the dreaded Cowboys in their playoff game. Now, the Dallas Cowboys, for reasons that make me sick, were at that time Arizona's team. In the many years that Arizona was without a pro football team, Cowboys games were featured on TV, gear was sold in stores, and this state became a Dallas Cowboys stronghold. Indeed, if you go see a Cowboys/Cardinals game here (at least until this year), you would find more Cowboys fans than Cardinals fans. It's sickening, especially to someone like me who has always hated the Cowboys.
Anyway, I digress. Somehow, the Cardinals beat the Cowboys in that playoff game. The next week, they faced a much stronger opponent (it was either Green Bay or the Rams, I can't remember) and they were done. But the future looked bright. That is, until the putz of an owner broke up the team. And so, that one glorious moment remains the only playoff game won by the Cardinals in the twenty years they have been in Arizona. One game. Unbelieveable. Even the Jets have been better than that.
Which brings us to this year. The Jets were coming off a four win season last year and not much was expected for this season. I was in Las Vegas in either May or June, and just for laughs, I put down a five dollar bet for the Jets to win the Super Bowl. The odds were 65-1, and I figured what the heck, it's only five bucks. What did I know? And then, all of a sudden, none other than Brett Favre ends up being the Jets quarterback. Tom Brady of the Patriots is lost for the year due to injury, and Peyton Manning has been decidedly mortal. The Jets were 6-3 going into last night's game against the Pats and were tied for the division lead. Holy crap, you mean to tell me there's a chance I might actually get to cash in that 65-1 five dollar bet?
The Jets went out to a big first half lead in the game last night. The Patriots fought back. After all, they're still the Patriots, with or without Tom Brady, and they were playing at home. The score was tied at the end of the third quarter. The Jets came back with a long drive to go up by a touchdown with three minutes left. The Patriots tied the score with a miracle touchdown pass with one second left. Uh-oh. Here it comes, reality time for the Jets.
And then a funny thing happened in overtime. Favre led the Jets on another long drive; and the Jets kicked the game-winning field goal midway through overtime. Against the Patriots. On their field. The national pundits are saying that the Jets, by barely beating the Patriots in overtime on a game that they led handily in the first half, missed an opportunity to make a "statement", whatever the hell that is supposed to mean. Well, I've got news for you clowns. The Jets made a major statement last night. Any other Jets team would have easily lost that game. That's the statement, and for long-suffering Jets fans like me, that is enough. At least for today.
And the Cardinals? The Cardinals have quietly put together a solid team the last few years. The receiving tandem of Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald are the best in the league. The defense is loaded with studs. And Kurt Warner, former two-time league MVP, won the starting quarterback position from Matt Leinart, and has played this season as good, if not better, than he ever did for the Rams back in his glory days. When all that is added to the fact that the other teams in the division, the 49'ers, Rams, and Seahawks, are all having major down years, the Cardinals find themselves leading the division. Pivotal home wins against then-undefeated Buffalo and Dallas (yes, the dreaded Cowboys) on consecutive Sundays back in October vaulted the Cardinals to first place in the division. Before last Monday night's game against San Francisco, the Cardinals were 5-3 and led the division by three games. The Monday night match-up, nationally televised, against an inferior opponent on the Cardinals' home field in brand- new University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale (a West Valley suburb of Phoenix) was supposed to be a "statement" game.
Well, the 49'ers made a statement on the first play of the game, as the kickoff was run back for a 104 -yard touchdown. The Cardinals were forced to play catch-up the rest of the way, as that first play seemed to suck the life out of the home crowd and home team. The Cards made mistakes, committed stupid penalties, had horrible tackling at times, and allowed the 49'ers to almost beat them. Any other Cardinal team from any other year would clearly have lost, and blown this opportunity at a "statement" game. Yet, somehow, unbelievably, the Cards denied their legacy, and came out with an ugly win, thanks to a last-second, improbable goal-line stand. Still, ugly as it was, a win is a win, and the Cardinals, at 6-3, now find themselves four games ahead in their division.
Again, the national pundits have been merciless, castigating the Cardinals for failing to make a "statement." And to that, I say, you morons are clueless!! The Cardinals made a statement, they won the damn game!! That's the statement, don't you idiots get that??!! These are the Cardinals you're talking about!
As I sit here today, the Jets are 7-3 and lead their division. The Cardinals are 6-3 and, incredibly with seven games still to go, have almost clinched their division. My mind wanders with fantasies of the Jets barely edging out the Cardinals in the Super Bowl this coming February and me going up to Vegas to cash in that ticket. I can almost taste the sweetness of that fantasy, and I long for it to happen. I have hope, I have faith, and I'm loving this football season.
And that, all you ridiculous so-called national experts, is the statement these two teams have made. They have ceased to be themselves, and they have actually learned how to win. They have given their fans hope, and joy, and excitement. They're not the best teams in the league, they probably won't reach the Super Bowl. But they have clearly made statements to their fans. And we're lovin' it!!
Since the legendary Super Bowl victory in January of 1969, the Jets have not once returned to the Big Game. They've made it to the Conference Finals only twice since then. In 1982, Richard Todd (remember him?) led the team to the Conference Finals, where they played division rival Miami in the Orange Bowl. It rained for about a week before the game, and the field was a muddy mess. The Jets gained about 15 yards in total offense that day, A.J. Duhe of Miami deflected a Todd pass into the air, waited for about three minutes for the ball to fall into his arms, and then slogged through the mud into the end zone. The Jets were shut out in that game, 14-0. It was painful to watch.
In 1999, Vinny Testaverde, who I don't think has ever won a championship game at any level, led the Jets to the Conference Finals again. That year, the game was played in Denver in frigid conditions. Somehow, the Jets kept John Elway in check for the first half, and actually led at halftime 6-0. But the real Elway showed up in the second half, and the Broncos romped to a relatively easy win.
And that's been it. There have been a couple of other playoff appearances, maybe three or four, but they have all been early exits. For the most part, the Jets have been pathetic for the last forty years. They have been soft and inconsistent, and have usually let good players slip away. Cheering for them has been a chore.
But if the Jets have been bad, the Cardinals have been absolutely horrific. In the twenty years since they landed in the desert, the Cardinals have had only one, yes one, winning season. In 1999, the Cardinals somehow managed to go 9-7. The last game of that season was a last-second victory over San Diego, which secured the Cards only playoff berth during their entire tenure in Arizona. The quarterback was Jake Plummer, local college star from Arizona State. The Cards faced the dreaded Cowboys in their playoff game. Now, the Dallas Cowboys, for reasons that make me sick, were at that time Arizona's team. In the many years that Arizona was without a pro football team, Cowboys games were featured on TV, gear was sold in stores, and this state became a Dallas Cowboys stronghold. Indeed, if you go see a Cowboys/Cardinals game here (at least until this year), you would find more Cowboys fans than Cardinals fans. It's sickening, especially to someone like me who has always hated the Cowboys.
Anyway, I digress. Somehow, the Cardinals beat the Cowboys in that playoff game. The next week, they faced a much stronger opponent (it was either Green Bay or the Rams, I can't remember) and they were done. But the future looked bright. That is, until the putz of an owner broke up the team. And so, that one glorious moment remains the only playoff game won by the Cardinals in the twenty years they have been in Arizona. One game. Unbelieveable. Even the Jets have been better than that.
Which brings us to this year. The Jets were coming off a four win season last year and not much was expected for this season. I was in Las Vegas in either May or June, and just for laughs, I put down a five dollar bet for the Jets to win the Super Bowl. The odds were 65-1, and I figured what the heck, it's only five bucks. What did I know? And then, all of a sudden, none other than Brett Favre ends up being the Jets quarterback. Tom Brady of the Patriots is lost for the year due to injury, and Peyton Manning has been decidedly mortal. The Jets were 6-3 going into last night's game against the Pats and were tied for the division lead. Holy crap, you mean to tell me there's a chance I might actually get to cash in that 65-1 five dollar bet?
The Jets went out to a big first half lead in the game last night. The Patriots fought back. After all, they're still the Patriots, with or without Tom Brady, and they were playing at home. The score was tied at the end of the third quarter. The Jets came back with a long drive to go up by a touchdown with three minutes left. The Patriots tied the score with a miracle touchdown pass with one second left. Uh-oh. Here it comes, reality time for the Jets.
And then a funny thing happened in overtime. Favre led the Jets on another long drive; and the Jets kicked the game-winning field goal midway through overtime. Against the Patriots. On their field. The national pundits are saying that the Jets, by barely beating the Patriots in overtime on a game that they led handily in the first half, missed an opportunity to make a "statement", whatever the hell that is supposed to mean. Well, I've got news for you clowns. The Jets made a major statement last night. Any other Jets team would have easily lost that game. That's the statement, and for long-suffering Jets fans like me, that is enough. At least for today.
And the Cardinals? The Cardinals have quietly put together a solid team the last few years. The receiving tandem of Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald are the best in the league. The defense is loaded with studs. And Kurt Warner, former two-time league MVP, won the starting quarterback position from Matt Leinart, and has played this season as good, if not better, than he ever did for the Rams back in his glory days. When all that is added to the fact that the other teams in the division, the 49'ers, Rams, and Seahawks, are all having major down years, the Cardinals find themselves leading the division. Pivotal home wins against then-undefeated Buffalo and Dallas (yes, the dreaded Cowboys) on consecutive Sundays back in October vaulted the Cardinals to first place in the division. Before last Monday night's game against San Francisco, the Cardinals were 5-3 and led the division by three games. The Monday night match-up, nationally televised, against an inferior opponent on the Cardinals' home field in brand- new University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale (a West Valley suburb of Phoenix) was supposed to be a "statement" game.
Well, the 49'ers made a statement on the first play of the game, as the kickoff was run back for a 104 -yard touchdown. The Cardinals were forced to play catch-up the rest of the way, as that first play seemed to suck the life out of the home crowd and home team. The Cards made mistakes, committed stupid penalties, had horrible tackling at times, and allowed the 49'ers to almost beat them. Any other Cardinal team from any other year would clearly have lost, and blown this opportunity at a "statement" game. Yet, somehow, unbelievably, the Cards denied their legacy, and came out with an ugly win, thanks to a last-second, improbable goal-line stand. Still, ugly as it was, a win is a win, and the Cardinals, at 6-3, now find themselves four games ahead in their division.
Again, the national pundits have been merciless, castigating the Cardinals for failing to make a "statement." And to that, I say, you morons are clueless!! The Cardinals made a statement, they won the damn game!! That's the statement, don't you idiots get that??!! These are the Cardinals you're talking about!
As I sit here today, the Jets are 7-3 and lead their division. The Cardinals are 6-3 and, incredibly with seven games still to go, have almost clinched their division. My mind wanders with fantasies of the Jets barely edging out the Cardinals in the Super Bowl this coming February and me going up to Vegas to cash in that ticket. I can almost taste the sweetness of that fantasy, and I long for it to happen. I have hope, I have faith, and I'm loving this football season.
And that, all you ridiculous so-called national experts, is the statement these two teams have made. They have ceased to be themselves, and they have actually learned how to win. They have given their fans hope, and joy, and excitement. They're not the best teams in the league, they probably won't reach the Super Bowl. But they have clearly made statements to their fans. And we're lovin' it!!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
OK, so I was wrong....
....And I've never been so happy to be wrong in my life. It truly feels like a new day has dawned today. I'll bet it was like this in 1960, when Kennedy was elected.
Like many Americans, I never thought I would live to see the day that a black man would be elected President. I remember the race riots of the mid-60's, the Black Panthers, Malcolm X, and of course, Martin Luther King and his horrifying murder. Racism is still alive and kicking in my state of Arizona, and I had no reason to believe it's not still alive all across the country. But maybe, just maybe, that's changing.
McCain's concession speech last night was very gracious, and it seemed to underscore the fact that that particular McCain had been absent for much of the campaign. Perhaps the pressure of the campaign was too much for him and so he hid the true McCain behind the McCain that came forth and was rejected by the nation. And to my friend, A Red Mind in a Blue State, I will never underestimate Sarah Palin. To do that would be stupid, and I firmly believe she will be President someday, and I fear that day. As someone who does not fit her definition of a "real American", she scares the crap out of me. But that is something to worry about some other day.
Obama's speech, as always, was brilliant and powerfully given. The man is clearly a class act and I look forward optomistically to his presidency. But the thing I will always remember most from last night was the reaction from African-Americans, from the faculty members at Howard University who were so overwhelmed with emotion that they couldn't speak, to Jesse Jackson, who stood in the crowd in Grant Park in Chicago, with tears running down his face. No one can deny that last night was one of this nation's most historic moments.
Congratulations to President-elect Obama, I certainly don't envy you, the job you face is enormous and daunting. And congratulations to our great nation, for electing the best candidate, despite his race.
Like many Americans, I never thought I would live to see the day that a black man would be elected President. I remember the race riots of the mid-60's, the Black Panthers, Malcolm X, and of course, Martin Luther King and his horrifying murder. Racism is still alive and kicking in my state of Arizona, and I had no reason to believe it's not still alive all across the country. But maybe, just maybe, that's changing.
McCain's concession speech last night was very gracious, and it seemed to underscore the fact that that particular McCain had been absent for much of the campaign. Perhaps the pressure of the campaign was too much for him and so he hid the true McCain behind the McCain that came forth and was rejected by the nation. And to my friend, A Red Mind in a Blue State, I will never underestimate Sarah Palin. To do that would be stupid, and I firmly believe she will be President someday, and I fear that day. As someone who does not fit her definition of a "real American", she scares the crap out of me. But that is something to worry about some other day.
Obama's speech, as always, was brilliant and powerfully given. The man is clearly a class act and I look forward optomistically to his presidency. But the thing I will always remember most from last night was the reaction from African-Americans, from the faculty members at Howard University who were so overwhelmed with emotion that they couldn't speak, to Jesse Jackson, who stood in the crowd in Grant Park in Chicago, with tears running down his face. No one can deny that last night was one of this nation's most historic moments.
Congratulations to President-elect Obama, I certainly don't envy you, the job you face is enormous and daunting. And congratulations to our great nation, for electing the best candidate, despite his race.
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