Those of you who know me know that I am passionate about politics. In spite of the fact that the Democratic nominee will be either a woman or an African-American this year, it’s been hard for me to get excited about the election. I think the reason is that despite the clout that Clinton wields or the grace and power of Obama’s words, I feel like we are merely voting for a democratic status quo. This time there is no monster in the White House we need to defeat, no sense that things will truly change.
When I was younger I loved Mario Cuomo. I loved the cadence of his speech. It was the same way that my mother felt when she heard Bobby Kennedy speak. It was the cadence of Roosevelt and Dr. King. It was the cadence of the Preacher and the Rabbi. Preach the political gospel to me and I’ll pick up the clipboard and sign up voters ’til my feet wear out. Make me feel like it matters, and if even it really doesn’t at least I will feel something other than blandness I felt during the Clinton years or the anger that I felt in 2000 and 2004.
So what am I looking for? I want to be inspired. I want to feel a true feeling of hope and just not hear the word repeated over and over ’til it’s nothing but a slogan. I want to feel a connection to those around me, I want to feel that it’s not about Washington, D.C, that it’s about Ann Arbor, MI and Celo, NC and San Anselmo, CA and Tulsa, OK. I want to feel that pull in the pit of my stomach – that feeling that there is something bigger and better waiting ahead for America. I want to feel that it’s not just tax cuts for the upper and middle class while the poor and single mothers looking for childcare are ignored. I want to feel something other than fear, something I haven’t felt in a long, long time…
That is until now. Thank you Robin for the link to the video. Maybe I am naive to feel changed by a mere video, but I do. I feel changed by the faces of the young singers, the gait of the guitar and the poetry and power in the words. The short of it is that this video makes me feel something. If the koolaid is the in the soul of the human voice singing, sign me up and hand me the cup. Give me the rhythm, give me the groove, give me the alto and the falsetto. Give it to me baby and if nothing else, it will make me want to try to work for change, and to not work merely to be saved from Oilmen devils. Sing it will.i.am.
Yes we can, baby, yes we can.