That Special Somebody

I remember the first time my heart got broken. Seventeen years old, walking the perilous line between naïveté and a little less naïveté. She was just a year older, but had the taste of a more vintage grape juice lingering on her lips. I was so certain of our high school romance, that I traveled all the way from the Bronx to Boston to visit her in Martha's Vineyard where she was working for the summer. Yet, something in the clean, salt-water air of the quaint island town had soured her on us, and I went back to NYC much sooner than I had planned.

When I got back to the city, I decided to go to my buddy's house rather than home. He had the attic all to himself, so there was plenty of room for me to crash, and wallow in self-pity. I suffered for days, but managed to put on a good show for the boys - toasting 40 ounce malt liquor to celebrate my return to bachelorhood. I was, according to the consensus, too young and too cool to be in love. What did they know?

Now it's not exactly the same, but that's the sensation that comes to mind when I listen to Barak Obama. I get the intellectual equivalent of butterflies in my stomache and begin to daydream those "this is the one" fantasies all over again. Despite my general idealism, I am utterly apathetic when it comes to politics and government, so it's no small feat to have me falling head over heals.

I want to believe, I truly do. I want let myself go, and give in to the allure of hope, but I am scared. I don't want to be disappointed. I don't want to wake-up one morning and realize that he is just like all the rest: a liar, a crony, an idiot with clean packaging and a good campaign strategy. I need to know that he is the real thing.

Then again, how noble can someone really be in politics? It is the very nature of the beast which forces one to compromise their principles, to make strange bedfellows, and to ultimately be corrupted by the trappings of power. I've never know a politician to do no harm - they all do something unethical, illegal, or just plain stupid.

After a while I ask myself: do I expect or even need Barack Obama to be perfect? No I don't. All I really need in a President is a person who brings the same character and honor to the Oval Office that they bring to their own home. Treat America as if it were your family. Don't cheat on your wife, don't miss your kids birthdays, and do everything in your power to make sure they are healthy, educated, and well fed. I don't think that is too much to ask.

I am counting on you, Barack. Make me a believer.