Static Change
June 3, 2008 promised to be historical. This Super, Super Tuesday would likely produce a presidential nominee that would be a first – either a woman or a black man. After supper, long, long before any returns could be reported the talking heads and the spin masters were prognosticating and proclaiming. All this generated far more heat than light about: Who would it be? Polls closed late in South Dakota and even later in Montana. The South Dakota Polls closed. The hard numbers began to be reported. It was too close to call. This was getting interesting. It was also getting late. Senator McCain decided to give an election night speech. The channels shifted to him live. I fell asleep in my chair. When I woke, dawn was leaking around the window blinds. It was all over. I punched a few buttons on the TV clicker and heard a complete rerun of Senator Obama’s speech. I remembered a story my Grandfather told about another election speech. In the summer of 1898, President McKinley came to the Dakota Prairie to give a speech. Of course, this was a much different time and certainly a much different culture. But he was running on a platform of change. He wanted to restore working class prosperity after the economic ruin caused by Grover Cleveland’s 1893 Depression. It was an event for my Great-Grandfather Axel and his neighbors. Historic enough to take a day to go hear him! At the first crack of dawn on the horizon, Axel had the team of horses hitched to a wagon and his neighbors assembled. The ten miles to town represented a three hour trip and they didn’t want to miss anything. Axel and friends had a few free whiskeys common to these occasions to clear the road dust from their throats. They drove the wagon to a spot near the speaker’s stand. And waited in the summer sun! McKinley started to speak. The crowd was large. He was hard to hear. Heat and drink made Axel drowsy. He slept through the speech. Disappointed, he and his friends ate supper and headed the team home trough the long summer dusk. Axel read McKinley’s speech in next week’s local paper. I wonder at the improvement in communication technology! Political speeches – not so much!