Politics

I was pretty confident that Obama would win, but seeing it actually happen was pretty amazing. Moving, even. Most of my political life has involved seeing George W. Bush be elected and then reelected, during which Democrats either failed to gain ground in Congress or actually lost a bunch of seats, as in 2004. Both those elections lasted long into the night as the "swing states" were agonizingly pontificated over by guys like Wolf Blitzer. And they both ended with me and everyone around me being pretty miserable. I was at Wesleyan in 2004, and the morning after the election, the campus felt like a funeral.

I guess you could say I am totally "in the tank" for Barack Obama. In fact, I could've told you at least 8 years ago that I would be voting for Obama (or whoever the Democratic candidate ended up being) next week. I would almost venture to say that in the entire time any member of my family has lived in the United States, none of them has ever voted for a non-Democrat, so it's just part of my upbringing. Now, I also live in one of the bluest congressional districts in one of the bluest states in the country and I work for a pretty left-leaning newspaper, so not many of my friends, neighbors, or co-workers are particularly disinclined to vote for Obama either. So, while we're mostly not worth canvassing or get-out-the-vote organizing here in New York, we're still good to hit up for money.

Ted Kennedy's speech tonight at the Democratic Convention in Denver was one of the more moving ones I can recall. While in general this year's convention is already far better than 2004's total snooze-job of a convention for a total snooze-job of a candidate, this speech was pretty special. The words themselves were not as significant, one might say, as the fact that Kennedy managed to deliver it more or less full-tilt despite his highly malignant brain tumor. Still, though, I found his references to his brother's push to go to the moon personally relevant (as a student of astronomy, I suppose).

Those who follow the local news in New York have no doubt heard of the MTA's plan to raise subway fares next year and again in 2011. People and politicians in the city and suburbs love to whine about the fare hike and how it will hit working people the most. Honestly, I don't mind that much. A few extra bucks a month is not a big deal to me and to most people. I still no car-related travel expenses and I still know that the subway here is cheaper than smaller and less useful mass transit systems in many other cities, both in the U.S. and the rest of the world.

I just returned from a 12-day trip to Israel provided to me by a conclave of Zionist masterminds Birthright Israel which hands out free trips to the Holy Land for Jews aged 18-26. On the whole, it was a pretty positive experience. This particular trip was for people 22 and over, so it generally screened out the people who planned to use the trip mostly as an excuse to party and drink in a country whose drinking age is 18. Our group, fortunately, consisted mostly of pretty smart folks who had a more or less sincere interest in seeing Israel for what it was and trying to understand what our relationship to it as American Jews ought to be.