Last Monday, two ‘events’ transpired, only one of which elicited national anger.  On the one hand, 25,000 children around the world died from eminently treatable illnesses like diarrhea–25,000 human lives, with all their potential, their beauty, their hope, snuffed out due to a lack of clean water to drink or cheap antibiotics to treat them.  On the other hand, the Green Bay Packers lost to the Seattle Seahawks on a last minute call that, observers around the country agree, was blown by replacement referees.  Now, there are many angles to this.  For one thing, the regular, unionized referees have been locked out by the NFL due to a dispute over pay and pensions, creating a fascinating dynamic whereby numerous anti-union figures, such as Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, find themselves begging for a return to the unionized referees.  What’s more, it’s been absolutely fascinating to read about the fact that, despite a litany of horrible calls by these amateur refs, many of which have literally changed the outcomes of games, viewership has actually gone up!  So it seems that the old adage ‘there is no such thing as bad publicity’ holds true.

Anyway, where was I?  Oh, right, national anger.  So one of these two events got the President of the United States, presidential and vice presidential candidates Romney and Ryan, several governors, talk show hosts, tv show hosts, bloggers, newspapers and countless millions of ordinary Americans to unleash a unified crescendo of dismay, disgust and disdain for…the NFL.  The fact that so many died quiet deaths in distant villages, crowded cities and everything in between?  Not a peep.  Not a word.  Not even a side note on the evening news.

In last week’s third and final presidential debate, John McCain spent a considerable amount of time talking about “Joe the Plumber.” Joe is a guy that met Obama on the campaign trail, and who confronted him about the fact that his tax policy would “penalize” him if he were to buy the business he works for and see a dramatic rise in his income, because Obama’s tax plan calls for tax cuts for people that earn below $250,000, and tax increases for those that earn more.  Now the amazing thing is that, for a lot of people, Joe’s complaint rings true even though they will most likely never earn more than a quarter million dollars a year.  As I starting thinking about this bizarre dynamic, it occurred to me that we’ve heard from a lot of Joes during this campaign: Joe six-pack, Joe the Plumber and Joe Biden.  But there’s another Joe we haven’t heard about–most likely because he died over a century ago–but whose story, immortalized in folk songs, has a lot to say about the state of the country and its potential for greatness.

A lot of you will have heard of Joe HIll because Joan Baez often sang, and probably still does sing, about his life.  To put it briefly, Joe Hill was a songwriter, labor activist and union member, who was framed for murder and then executed by firing squad in November of 1915.  In the version of the song about his life that Joan Baez sings, the lyrics go as follows:

An Electric Moment

Last night a football stadium was packed to the gills, not with football fans cheering on their home team, but rather with people from all walks of life who endured long lines and heat in order to listen to a politician deliver a speech.  It was a speech given 45 years to the day after Martin Luther King’s I have a dream speech that, symbolically and literally, opened the way for a black man to accept the nomination for president of the United States.  It was a speech given to cheering crowds and extraordinarily high expectations.  It was given to a nation that has gone decades without an inspirational leader.  It was a speech given during an inflexion point in history, when the world is facing new global challenges and new global opportunities, and the very strength of America’s place in the world depends on the direction we choose to take; will we once again be a nation that does not torture, that does not invade sovereign nations, that leads by example?  Will we be innovators? Will we rebuild our infrastructure, provide health care to all, protect social security and educate our children?

Something Amazing is Stirring

So it was that Obama stood up before the crowd and, looking calm, confident and collected, gave a speech that at times soared into the clouds and at times swept along the earth. He gave a speech that moved to poetry and then, in a smooth change in tone and cadence, became an explanation of policy positions.  He gave a speech that attacked his opponent without disrespecting his opponent.  He gave a speech that moved commentators–myself included–to soaring commentary. And finally, he gave a speech that will resonate in history not because of any one line or phrase, but because of the context and the moment.  We will look back on this night when we are older and proudly say, “I remember that.” We will think back on where our country was headed and realize that something amazing was stirring all along.