I have been thinking a lot lately about how interesting the presidential primary could be--a woman, a Black man, a Mormon are all in the running. This has happened before, actually. The difference this time is that these are all candidates to be taken seriously. Politics aside, I'd like to think that most rational Americans would see such a ballot as a great step forward.
In particular, there has been much talk recently about Senator Obama. People have unwittingly made some stupid comments. What I think is remarkable about this confident visionary is not his color, and certainly not his color combined with great intelligence and understanding, it is that the greater population is finally ready for this important step in our country's history. It is not that a Black man is "capable" of running for president, it is that white men and women can finally accept such a thing. It is that our country can finally accept a legitimate woman candidate. It is that the Mormon faith has become so mainstream that it may not be a stumbling block to his candidacy. This is a hard time in our nation's history. Our divisions are deep. But the candidates in the next election show that my generation is poised to finally see beyond differences to our similarities.
In other notes, the thing with my colleague finally blew over. It didn't end super well; she was pretty resentful about the fact that I had made her "look bad" by taking care of much of the mess myself and giving a list of estimated damages to our principal with little input from her. I just smiled and nodded. It was hard, but I refrained from saying, "Did it ever occur to you that you made YOURSELF look bad?" Our relationship has cooled somewhat, but I don't think I completely burned the bridge. It just needs some repair work.