Hey, World! We're having an election over here!

Hey, World! We're having an election over here!
All the sturm und drang surrounding the Democratic Party primaries and caucuses hasn't bothered me too much; actually, I've found it a bit refreshing. I've seen Sen. Obama twice and Mrs. Obama once, and I've listened to Sen. Clinton on television and in Internet videos. I love hearing intelligent people speak well; I've always loved words and have respected anyone's ability to use them well. It's been a joy, especially as compared to our recent history.

The past eight years in America have been grim. It's felt to me as though we've been wandering in our very own 100-Acre Wood, much like Pooh, and have developed a collective longing for someone to hack through the underbrush and get us back to our familiar path. The American presidency is such a complex idea: we look to our leader not only for strength in the face of adversity and resolve in times of threat, we have also always relied on our President to set the tone for the nuts-and-bolts issues of our daily lives.

Some of the institutions we take for granted, like public libraries, public education, safe highways and public health services, have been models for the rest of the world. Yet in the past years, many of these institutions have been allowed to decline in quality, and I fear that we've not noticed and won't notice until they're almost nonexistent. I know I'm not the only person in America who feels this way - I speak every day to people who feel as I do, and also feel as helpless as I do to stop what seems like a slide into mediocrity. We are sacrificing the very institutions that make America the best country in the world for actual living, day to day. And for what?

A good leader has a sensitive finger on the pulse of what really matters to his or her constituency. Sometimes we need our leaders to define what matters to 300 million folks who are so busy they don't have time to pay attention. And eight years of leadership that has operated in isolation from the people, in denial of failed policies and poor decisions, and appearing to be in total lockstep with some very self-serving special interests has resulted in a deep national depression - what former President Carter identified as a "great national malaise."

SO - let's have a good, old-fashioned, knock-down, drag-out, let-it-all-hang-out election. Let's air everyone's opinions, let's give everyone the chance to vote (and actually count all the votes accurately this time). Let's allow small groups like New Hampshire and Iowa and North Carolina and even Puerto Rico to have some impact. Let's remind the world how democracy works, in all its messy glory.

And at the end of this whole process - let's get back to what we do best. Let's be our brother's keeper in the best sense of that phrase. Let's repair our roads, expand our library hours, give our nurses and teachers a raise, stop the terrible waste of lives and treasure in unwinnable conflicts. Let's reward our soldiers and sailors appropriately with an invigorated GI Bill. Let's put our remarkable talent for innovation into solving the problems of no clean water, no proper medicines, not even enough food in some of our global sister nations. Let's all strive to support new ideas in the budding areas of sustainable environments and medical research into gene-based cures. Let's get back to working on the problems of crime, drug use, poverty and lack of good health care -problems that we had made such a great start on before we lost our way.

More than ever, our country needs leadership. Our new President can pull us out of our depression, give us back our optimism, jolt us out of our partisanship back into a concern for each other.

Hey, World - look out! I think America may be swinging for the fences again.