daring to hope (damn right).

lest this dissolve into a blog solely devoted to my declining health, let us suffice to say that staying up to watch "nightline" last night was doing my body a grave disservice. but it was for a noble cause, a just and righteous cause that i am not afraid -- not afraid, i say! -- to shout to the winds right here on my blog that nobody reads:

i am hooked on democracy.

you read it right, friend(s). i simply cannot. get. enough. i knew who had won the caucuses before "nightline" came on, but i wanted to share in the experience. the history of it all. i wanted to watch charlie gibson and george stephanopoulos stand out in the des moines cold and break it down for me. (i don't have all the "fancy cable," with the "CNN" and the "MSNBC," so ABC News will have to do. truth be told, i'd only watch the cable channels for non-peak hours nerd coverage anyway.) i've always been idealistic, perhaps to the point of ridiculousness and definitely to the point of mass disappointment when things aren't as "West Wing"-y as i'd like. which, it goes without saying, has been very, very, VERY often these past seven-odd years. bearing witness to the worst administration in history can be, if you'll allow me, a drag. or, if you prefer, a bummer. that said, it seems like change may finally be in the air. i can't tell you how excited i would be with an obama-huckabee general election.

let's clear something up straightaway: i'm an obama man. i believe that he's an honest-to-God one man paradigm shift, and i think he represents the best shot at legitimate change in presidential politics since maybe bobby kennedy. wouldn't it then be joyful to, as a nation, a family, experience a race with two guys that both trade in the politics of hope? i gotta say -- i wouldn't vote for the guy, at least not over obama, but i have love for mike huckabee. i love that wall street hates him for the dastardly, un-Republican trait of realizing that spending money on education and roads is good for the electorate and, oh yeah, actually giving a shit about poor people. it's also massively encouraging to see a down-the-line conservative Christian candidate not being, in the charming words of my friend josh, "a retarded fuckstick." (i always promised that if i ever quoted you, shua, i'd do so warmly and accurately.)

anyway, to use the parlance of our time, i'm hella stoked. four days until new hampshire.

it's on.


photo courtesy of The New York Times.