The Audacity of Hope

Like most Americans, I am not different in my boredom and distaste for all the political mud-slinging which occurs in an election year where we make a decision for a commander and chief to lead us in the next four years.
I am a public servant, and have been for 10+ years. One task I had when I was employed at the City of Lake Elmo was to assist the City Clerk with elections. I started helping with the absentee ballots. The following year, I had made a career change and found myself as the election administrator for the City of Arden Hills, and that was the year when sadly, Senator Paul Wellstone had died in a tragic airplane crash. It was very tense and complicated to administer that election, especially in an emergency when unheard of paper ballots were called upon to replace the already printed ballots.
My Mom was a very well-read and politically alert individual. When she passed this last year, one of the tasks we had as family was to go through her things, and Mom had an enormous private collection of books throughout her lifetime. I remember very vividly that she was almost attached to the television during the Nixon Watergate Hearings, and she read every book published on that topic. Her political tendency was on the moderate to liberal side of the spectrum. However, she admired Oliver North, and I think she found President Reagan to be a charismatic leader who inspired regular folks to look at politics with common sense and an urgency for realism.
Mom was a huge fan of Barrack Obama. When we found his book, The Audacity of Hope on her bookshelf, none of us were surprised. This brings me to the fact that I am so disappointed that I did not get to hear Senator Obama in Eau Claire that day when he greeted and spoke with over 2,000 people in the Zorn Arena. Sure, I listened to his speech on the AM radio, but there is something lacking when we do not see the man and his gestures and delivery.
Whomever gets the Democratic nomination, I'd like to feel some hope. Hope for increased stem-cell research funding that is so very important to hundreds of thousands of people like my sons who are affected by Friedreich's Ataxia, and wait for a cure. At 28 and 31, their lives are just starting, and there is much they need to contribute. Hope for equality for all who live in the USA and world, as our founding fathers intended. Hope for global understanding that there is one supreme being, and there are many paths to him/her. Hope that humanity realizes life is so very fragile.
I mentioned a while back that Mr. Obama was going to dine with four people. I think I would like to be one of those four. One can only hope.