FIRED UP...

... Ready to go!

We watched Barack Obama's last campaign appearance last night--not only the last of this election cycle, the last of his career.  It was Michelle, in fact, in her introduction, who did the political work, reminding Iowans of her husband's achievements in office.  The President abandoned his stump speech in favor of something closer to a pep rally, built around the nostalgic story of a tiny rally at the start of his presidential campaign in the remote town of Greenville, South Carolina.  As he told it, he showed up tired, wet and angry, and the rally risked running rapidly into the doldrums--but was enlivened by the enthusiasm of one Edith Childs, who initiated the chant that became a rallying cry: Fired up!  Ready to go!  This woman, he said, had been invited to appear with him at the historic moment of his last campaign appearance; but she declined.  She'd be too busy, she said, knocking on doors in Greenville, gathering those last votes.

We have a good man in the Oval Office.  He may not have lived up to every one of the expectations we ourselves created for him, but he has kept as many of his promises as he could.  His vision is clear, as are his intentions.  The contrast between Obama and his opponent could not be greater.  I have already voted for his re-election.  I hope that readers of The Buddha Diaries will have done, or will do, the same.