Sweet Caroline

I was traveling home from Washington, DC two weeks ago and picked up the Sunday New York Times at Union Station. First, I was a little freaked by having to pay over $5 for a newspaper, but I figured it would keep me occupied for several hours.

I used to read the Sunday Times when I lived in New York. We were initially a Herald Tribune family and only became a Times family when the Trib went out of existance. New York has two kinds of people: Times people and Daily News people. People don't read the Post.

So, there I was, streaming along in the Acela at 130 mph reading the Sunday Times and sipping on some orange juice.

And then I read something that brought tears to my eyes.

"OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they
wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did
when my father was president..."

My mind returned to a time many years ago. Thoughts of two small children on a cold day in late November who had just lost their father. A few years later they would lose an uncle. Both deaths were violent and crushed the nation's spirit. My interest in politics was born with the election of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. My sense of cynicism was born when Bobby was murdered.

Can I/we risk taking a chance on another charasimatic politician.

Caroline ends with, "I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them."

In understand completely.

~j