I will start my day today waiting in line to vote, and hopefully by the time I wake up tomorrow morning we will know the result of the election.
I know that Obama and Romney both passionately want to win, but why? Would you want that job? One man will literally have the weight of the world on his shoulders. He will likely win by only a small margin and be faced with enacting change with nearly half of the people against him. He will be fresh off a negative campaign season and need to engender support from those he has been bashing for the past year. He faces huge fiscal challenges, world unrest, economic woes and a host of social issues. I wonder what the best part of the job is.
The new Spielberg movie Lincoln opens next week. In a review in Time*, it referenced an analogy that Lincoln quoted about the Great Blondin, a tightrope walker who crossed over Niagara Falls. "Suppose," Lincoln said, "that all the material values in this great country of ours...could have been concentrated and given to Blondin to carry over that awful crossing." Suppose "you had been standing upon the shore as he was going over, as he was carefully feeling his way along and balancing his pole with all his most delicate skill over the thundering cataract. Would you have shouted at him, 'Blondin, a step to the right!' 'Blondin, a step to the left!' or would you have stood there speechless and held your breath and prayed to the Almighty to guide and help him safely through the trial?"
Let us not cast aspersions on the ultimate victor tonight; rather we should fervently hope that he is able to accomplish the inevitable tightrope walking with grace.
-- beth triplett
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*"Lincoln to the Rescue" by David Von Drehle in Time, November 5, 2012, p. 34
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