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Blogs by Donelle Knudsen
Politics, Back to School and Mr. Spock 8/26/2008 7:22:51 PM
This protracted season of politics makes me nostalgic and I yearn for the less complicated, bygone days of my youth. I’ve always been a few steps behind the trend-setters; to save money on clothes in high school and college, I sewed so I didn’t sport the latest fashions; as a newlywed I scrounged through second hand stores for our furniture, and bought our first color television fourteen years after my husband and I were married. I returned to the workplace in 1997 where I used a computer for the first time. None of this bothered me, but when my young grandson recently asked me if I knew George Washington or Abraham Lincoln, personally, now that got my attention.
In August of 2008 as I listen to all of the political commentaries, I ponder who will move into the White House in January, and can't help but think back to the 1960 Nixon/Kennedy presidential race. I was just a kid, but I remember the excitement and controversy of that hard fought contest. Senator Kennedy was thought to be too young and inexperienced to be trusted with the presidency during the tense Cold War years. But Nixon looked dour and couldn’t match up to Kennedy’s charm and mass appeal. Sound familiar?
The 1960 popular vote was very close: Kennedy's 49.7% to Nixon’s 49.6%. Kennedy won 303 of the electoral votes to Nixon's 219. I wonder if the 2008 race between a relatively inexperienced senator and a seasoned veteran from Arizona will be as close.
In 1960 the populace relied primarily on newspapers and the six o’clock news. Now we have 24 hour cable news, the Internet, text messaging, Blackberries and cell phones to keep us up to date. Personally, I’m overwhelmed and overloaded with election coverage and can’t wait for it all to be over.
As Labor Day approaches I find myself more interested in back-to-school time, even though those days are long gone for me. Every fall I get nostalgic and yearn to buy school supplies and return to those halls with the shiny tile floors and rows and rows of lockers. But now my grandsons walk the halls of their elementary school in new shoes and carry backpacks full of treasured school supplies.
Tonight I think about my grown children and their children, and as Mr. Spock of Star Trek said, I pray they will “Live long and prosper.” I guess that’s my wish for the next president – that he will do his job and keep my family safe so they can live long and prosper.
