He needs only this...to cover all the lands in a second darkness
I feel like I have recovered sufficiently from Thursday night to talk about politics again. As President Bush spoke on the last night of the RNC, my friends and I watched with sinking hearts. The consensus was that his speech was fabulous, even better than Kerry's, I fear. I shudder at the core to admit this, but there was a point about two thirds of the way through the speech, when Bush was dishing out his liberation-from-evil rhetoric, when I found myself wondering: Wouldn't it be wonderful if he were right? What if we've been doing the right thing all along? How reassuring would that be?

He was that good.

It didn't help that in the room with us were three conservatives, two of them senior guys who were extremely knowledgeable and well-spoken. One of them has worked as an intern for Bush and assures he is the most humble man alive. The other is socially liberal and disagrees with Bush's stands on marriage and abortion, but will vote for him because he sincerely believes in his economic and foreign policy strategy. Our demoralizing debate following the speech almost brought me to tears and made me suddenly realize how truly wretched politics is. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole and never hear another word of Republicans and Democrats. The fight for victory in November seemed hopeless, but more than that, I suddenly saw why so many people stay out of activism. It drains you deeply.

Last night, I was party-hopping with friends when I encountered a longtime campaigning buddy of mine from the days of Dean. He was completely trashed and depressed, and pretty much the only thing he could say was "52-41! It's over!" I had been avoiding newspapers and polls, but my stomach reeled. If Bush really gained that much on Kerry, my once-pounding hope for success is scarcely more than a faint heartbeat.

We must drink, speak and breathe hope for as long as hope survives, and when it is gone, we must yet endure, for endurance beyond hope is the true mark of the strong.