This Election

This past year or so has been almost mind boggling for Americans. We've had the first woman in a truly competitive run for the presidency and the first black American as a truly competitive candidate for the office, although by rights, Obama is half white. We had Republicans nominate a rather less conservative candidate than they usually do, although Bob Dole was not necessarily way to the right, either. We had John McCain name Sarah Palin a the vice presidential nominee, the first female Republican nominee for that office. I guess all of this shows that America wants change, and don't forget, this was all done BEFORE the current crisis hit the news. Maybe there's hope that bigotry will die, but I'm not exactly hanging by my thumbs awaiting such. I think there's something in us human beings that chooses, at times, but not always, to focus on the differences each of us have, whether it be gender or race or ethnicity or religion, or just about anything else you might care to toss in.

I remember in 1960 (ahhhh, I don't remember it all that well!) that Catholics were thrilled at the candidacy of John F. Kennedy, and they celebrated his subsequent election as president. This was followed in 1964 by the selection of William Miller, a Catholic, as the running mate of GOP presidential candidate, Barry Goldwater. In 1968 (I remember that far better!) Greeks were happy with the selection of Spiro Agnew for the vice presidential slot on the Republican ticket. In 1984, Walter Mondale chose Geraldine Ferraro as his vice presidential running mate. In our multi-ethnic, multi-racial, multi-religious society, it may take us time, but America does move forward on these kinds of issues. Now, in 2008, we may well have our first black (or half black, half white) president. Just remember, if many black Americans "celebrate," if that event happens, they will not be doing any different from what Catholics did earlier in our history, or Greek-Americans did earlier in our history, or what many women did when Ferraro was chosen (even though the ticket lost the election), or what some women are doing now, with Palin on the GOP ticket. If you're Hispanic-American or Slovak-American or Hungarian-American, you'll probably do the same if someone from one of those groups is placed on the ticket of one of the major parties in the future, and especially if they win!