Election Day, Finally!

The campaign of a lifetime is almost over. Walking to our local polling station this morning I noticed an interesting bumper sticker. Where I live—Coronado, CA—is mostly Republican with a large number of retired and active military. The bumper sticker on an older SUV across the street from our polling place was one of those oval shaped stickers that said: W 04. Neatly placed over the sticker was a round Obama-Biden sticker, placed so it was clear that this was a Bush voter who was not voting for McCain. We’ve also noticed that our usually Republican little town has as many—probably more--Obama lawn signs than those for McCain-Palin. This is based strictly on our own observations, clearly unscientific. It will be interesting to see how close the presidential numbers are in Coronado.

Coronado has hosted several well attended phone banks for Obama, drawing people from all of San Diego but with strong participation from Coronado itself. If Obama wins, the most interesting thing may be the number of Republicans who crossed over to vote for him. The Reagan Democrat phenomenon of the 1980s may have a 2008 version in Obama Republicans. The reasons will be different, of course. But the damage done to the GOP by W and his team clearly stings and will help re-define what that party must do in order to be relevant, again.

As stated last week, the challenge for Obama, if he makes it, will be to unite all of us. As he eloquently stated: We are not red states and blue states, we are the United States.

Whatever happens today, I will welcome the end of the campaign. Yes, it has been exhilarating and engaging. But there is so much work ahead, for whoever is elected; beginning that work cannot happen quickly enough.

The elusive idea of the great man or woman evokes a combination of hope and skepticism. The last political figure who I personally felt had the potential for greatness was Robert F. Kennedy. My initial response to him, as a much younger man, was more skeptical than hopeful. But as we watched him grow and define the late 60s in clear and eloquent fashion we saw the vision he defined as achievable and inspiring.

At this point in his career, Barack Obama is a long way from greatness. What is exciting, however, is his enormous potential. More than any other political leader since RFK, Barack has the skills, temperament, intelligence, and coalition, to become a great leader. The numbers look good for him, but we know—too well—the only numbers that really count are the votes—specifically, electoral votes. As we await the outcome of today’s election we are at one of those historic moments where everything is about to change.

Perhaps Obama’s great contribution, thus far, is that for many voters, hope is more real and deserved with this man than the normal skepticism that for too long has defined the political process. If those many voters are numerous enough to give Barack Obama and Joe Biden an electoral majority, our hope for great leadership may finally be realized. We’ll try to keep our journalist’s skepticism in balance, at least right now.