"No one could have imagined." I heard that a lot tonight watching the returns from New Hampshire. My former governor Mike Huckabee said it. Barack Obama said it. Indeed, even the pundits and news show clowns seemed unable to imagine it. They said Hillary would lose New Hampshire. She won. They thought Huckabee was a third-tier also-ran. He won Iowa and came in third in New Hampshire. Even that, I could not have imagined.
Of course, it's a bit disingenuous for a politician to say that "No one could have imagined." After all, if they couldn't have imagined it themselves, why would they have ever set out on that long, hard journey?
But I don't want to be cynical at this time. Listening to Barack Obama tonight I was inspired and less afraid of our uncertain future. And I was happy for Hillary Clinton, whose demise was greatly and prematurely exaggerated by the press. (Hillary, I already gave you money, tell your people to stop sending me daily emails asking for more. You're looking needy).
I think it is good news for the future of the United States that we have shown in two separate contests that we just might make history and elect the first African-American or the first woman president. And I would gladly and proudly support a ticket that had both Obama/Clinton or Clinton/Obama. Sure, it's a bit late (by at least eight years). But I've got HOPE that perhaps it took those eight years of degradation, greed, and disaster to bring about this historic moment. Yes, something positive just might come out of George W. Bush's presidency after all. And that, well, you guessed it, no one could have imagined.
