New York, 2 Nov 08, 2:15am:
Against Cynicism:
Joe Klein, ancient reporter type of 40 years standing (and notoriously anonymous author of the scurrilous “novel” of the first Clinton campaign, Primary Colours) has blogged an admirably open-hearted, ideology-free piece on Time’s Swampland.
He ends like this (my added bold type):
I’ve often said that cynicism is what passes for insight among the mediocre. Cynicism is certainly incompatible with a nation that believes in its future, believes that it can act creatively for the common good. No doubt, it will be extremely difficult for Barack Obama to succeed as President, if he is elected. He may not have the strength or wisdom necessary for the job; his priorities may the wrong ones. But the very fact of his election, should it occur, will signal that the United States of America that we live in is not the United States that a great many people–including many of my colleagues–imagined we lived in. It will be a place where race can be transcended, a world where film directors are inspired to take the boldest of leaps and imagine a world where cynicism isn’t our social default position. And it has the potential to be any number of other things we haven’t begun to imagine yet…because it will be someplace new.
