Before I begin, please take a trip down memory lane and sing along with me to a song that came out in 1979, the year I graduated from college, by the R&B duo McFadden & Whitehead. Ready? Let’s go!
Ain’t no stoppin’ us now
We’re on the move
Ain’t no stoppin’ us now
We’ve got the groove
There’s been so many things that’s held us down
But now it looks like things are finally comin’ around
I know we’ve got a long, long way to go
And where we’ll end up, I don’t know
But we won’t let nothin’ hold us back
We’re putting ourselves together
We’re polishing up our act
And if you felt we’ve been held down before
I know you’ll refuse to be held down anymore
Don’t you let nothing, nothing
Nothing stand in your way
I want you to listen, listen
To every word I say
As I covered the midterms at the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia on Tuesday night with legendary political science professor Larry Sabato and Jim Acosta, I felt a strange sensation come over me. It felt vaguely familiar. Something I hadn’t felt in a very long time. Then I realized what my head and heart were both feeling: hope. That word has been used repeatedly in campaigns of the past. Bill Clinton was the man from Hope, Arkansas, who told voters, “I still believe in a place called hope.” Barack Obama promised hope and change. The late Reverend Jesse Jackson told us, “Keep hope alive.” And hope hasn’t been the exclusive purview of Democrats. In his re-election effort, George W. Bush campaigned on “A Safer World and a More Hopeful America.” And now, it seems like it’s returned. And doesn’t it feel good?
