Dukakis/Bentsen in 88

Twenty years ago today, I was giving up politics forever. I had spent my first eight years growing increasingly disillusioned with my obsession with Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan to the point of my third grade debate, where (along with the sole Jehovah's Witness in the class, who made poor company supporting a Democrat) I took the side of Walter Mondale to play devil's advocate, and I never really switched back. I'm still not sure if it was my distrust of supply-side economics, or my love for Wendy's Old-Fashioned Hamburgers (which indeed, had "the beef"), but it stuck.

If only everyone would have as much sense as I did when I was eight. (And for some of those nuts who put Ronald Reagan in a class of "great" presidents - To think that eight year old STILL has more sense than you. Amazing.)

So I watched Iran Contra unfold, where Ronald Reagan's administration refused to sit down with a dictator and terrorist (pre-condition or not), but rather funded them through a embezzlement scheme. (Yay Ronald Reagan.) And I waited for 1988.

When it came, I was a fiesty twelve year old, seventh grader getting into bus stop fights defending the man who would not defend himself, Mike Dukakis. (This is true, I ended up with six stitches in the chin and a hospital visit, but my opponent agreed to switch his loyalties, so I count that as a victory.) When he lost, I stayed interested in politics, but really I had given it up. I put up with four more years of Bush's slightly competent leadership, then watched as my man Paul Tsongas went down to the intelligent but flaky Bill Clinton. We all know that story. I just kept seeing flashes of what could have been, had it not for silly tank photos and badly spun answer to a gut wrenching question. 1992 was a hollow victory, because every time I saw Bill and Hillary, it should have been Mike and Kitty's second time. Even though the images and words were right, I kept feeling like I was buying snake oil rather than real ideas.

And well, 2000 and 2004 were just too agonizing for words, but I never really put myself quite as out there as I did in 1988. I think I just assumed the country would have common sense and elect Al Gore, so that snuck up on a lot of us. And John Kerry was the just the best we could do from a list of flawed candidates, who but for 60,000 idiots in Ohio, would have been the 44th President.

But still I think back to 88 and what could have been, what should have been. Click the picture above to join me in a retelling of that dream - what I'll be dreaming about when I go to sleep tonight. 2008 is the start to writing the wrong of that mistake, electing leaders who seek the lowest denominator, the hatemongers who seek to praise this country by tearing its own people down. Too many have passed before who have lived and died for this country for us to tolerate the constitution desecrators who run the show today and who want to stay in charge, for four more years. I'm happy to take six more stitches (figuratively or literally) for Barack Obama. He is a man who will lift us up, not tear us down. This country could really use ideas again. We need to hear about what binds us together, not what tears us apart.

Four more years? No. Seven more days.