Swing to the Left

I remember sitting outside in the warm July evening of 1992, listening to the television inside blaring the sound of Bill Clinton's speech at the Democratic National Convention. I was on my way to California to start a new chapter in my life, and it felt like the country was doing the same. He reminded us that we were all in this together, and it was time for us to pitch in and get the job done. It was one of those "big tent" moments of which Democrats are so very fond. I watched the sun set for what seemed like hours that night, and I had a sensation of hanging on to the end of a pendulum that has just reached the far end of its swing. We were pausing for just a moment before we headed back to the other side.
By November 2000, we had made it all the way back to the left, and there was that bizarre week where everything we knew turned out to be wrong. I learned to fear and loathe the electoral college. I sat slack-jawed as the keys to the kingdom were handed over to some guy who used to be managing partner of the Texas Rangers. We blamed Al Gore for not being charismatic enough. A year later, fans of Armageddon got their first real shot at proving Nostradamus right, and a year after that we began our "slog" through Mesopotamia.
I watched the sun come up this morning and read the news accounts of Senator George Allen graciously conceding defeat and the Senate became a Democratic majority. Nancy Pelosi had lunch with the former owner of the Texas Rangers. It was a brand new day again.