Eyes on the Prize

Yesterday, I got stuck in a traffic jam, but I didn’t mind at all. The jam was due to the ground-breaking of the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Memorial. Ohio Drive was closed, and the police frequently stopped traffic on Independence Avenue to allow the many people attending the ceremony to cross the street.

The ceremony was covered in the Washington Post this morning, featuring pictures of tearful attendants. Although I don’t pretend to know what it was like to be a black person in the civil rights era (or today), I think I might have some small inkling of how the people attending the ceremony felt. As I inched down Independence Ave., watching the knots of people, mostly black Americans, walking to the ceremony, I myself became teary. It is absolutely shocking to think how recently in American history good people fought the battle for civil rights, and it is amazing to think how far we’ve come since then. (Although not far enough, I fear.) And Martin Luther King, Jr., is such an awe-inspiring figure, a man who possessed amazing grace and intelligence and strength and bravery. He was truly one of this country’s great patriots, and no one deserves a national memorial more than he.

About $30 million still needs to be raised to build his memorial. You can do your part here:

http://www.mlkmemorial.org/

Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
–Martin Luther King, Jr.

Yes, America. There is a Santa Claus

I started this blog because I wanted to write about real life--that is, non-political life--on Capitol Hill. So many people denigrate Washington, DC, as being a one-industry town, of being a place where people are obsessed with politics and connections and climbing to the top. Yeah, I hear that, but the truth is, that doesn't describe me or my husband or most of our neighbors or colleagues. Mostly the people we know are just regular people, obsessed with the details of their own particular lives--their children and pets and aging parents and friends and mortgages and whether or not Lost is a rerun this week.

But it is probably true that the people we know are more interested in politics than the average bear. (More highly educated, too, but that's fodder for another post.) And the people we know are much more liberal than the average bear. (Ninety percent of DC residents voted for John Kerry in the 2004 election.) Bluer than blue, you might say. Which means, too often, that they (and we) are sadder than sad.

But the last few days have been the brightest I've experienced in a while, and I don't think I'm alone among my friends in feeling that way. And the reason for that brightness is the outcome of an election. So I'm writing about politics in this post, because, guess what? Sometimes that too is real life on Capitol Hill.

In the days before November 7, I had halfway convinced myself that the Republicans were going to make a good showing in the election, which would have been proof positive (in my mind) that elections were being stolen. And that prospect made me weak with despair.

So my expectations were low on Tuesday morning. And yet, deep down inside, there was a little part of me that dared to hope. A familiar feeling to those of us who were raised with the Red Sox.

And then! Sweet Jesus, it was a miracle. Democrats winning left and right! My home state electing its first black governor, only the second elected black governor in history! Democrats taking control of the House! Democrats within striking distance of the Senate! Bush looking shell-shocked on TV! (Oh wait, he always looks like that.) Rumsfield resigning!

By Wednesday afternoon, I was giddy. My work colleagues were practically dancing in the hall. We shouted to one another from our offices. Not a lick of work was accomplished. My husband and I hummed, "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" while we cooked dinner. On the way to school this morning, I explained in great detail to my eight-year-old son what a parliamentary system was and how sad it was that the US didn't have one.

And this afternoon, like the proverbial cherry on the sundae, the icing on the cake, George Allen conceded his Senate seat to Jim Webb. And with that, the Republican house of cards has fallen. Things have finally folded in on the biggest collection of liars, thieves, and reprobates this country has ever seen.

Yes, Virginia. Yes, America. There is a Santa Claus.