Surviving Presidential Politics

As a child of lifetime Democrats and a devoted John F. Kennedy worshipper, I developed an early and permanent distaste for Richard Nixon.  When he re-emerged onto the political scene, I vowed to friends that "I'm leaving the country if Nixon is elected."  When he did get elected in 1968, despite my threat to emigrate, I stayed in college and did what I could to get rid of Nixon. (that is me with friends at a Vietnam moratorium in Washington, DC) 

The first time I could vote in a presidential election was 1972, when Nixon was running for his second term.  I spent 5 months of my life volunteering for George McGovern and again, I talked about leaving the country.  I didn't know where I'd go; I just didn't think I could survive "four more years" of Richard Nixon.

He was re-elected by a landslide, and I did move.  But only from Boston to Miami, which even with a huge Cuban population, is still part of the United States.  And I didn't need to make it through four years since Nixon was gone after two years, thanks to Watergate. 

Then Jimmy Carter was elected.  I was happy to stay in the country because by then I was working in television and I knew Jimmy Carter, and I liked him.

Around this time, I interviewed Ronald Reagan, and I remember wondering what kind of people were out there in California who would elect a movie star?  And being a governor was bad enough, but the idea of an actor as President of the United States?  We'd be the laughingstock of the world; how could the country survive such a thing?

Of course Reagan's presidency wasn't the disaster I imagined.  And the first George Bush didn't cause such strong feelings.  He didn't inspire me; but he didn't scare me.  And by now I was actually living in California, the state that likes to elect those Republican movie stars.

I had children by the time Clinton ran for President.  My daughter Alli was 8, already a devotee of presidential politics, and I remember taking her with me to vote for the first Democratic president in her lifetime. 

 And when I got cancer a few years later and thought I was going to die, I put on my wig and in the middle of chemotherapy I took Alli to a Democratic fundraiser, so she would have the memory of meeting President Clinton, the same way my father had taken me to see John Kennedy when I was Alli's age. 

I survived cancer.  But then I had to survive George W. Bush--like we all did.  And it was even worse than I expected.   In 2004,though I couldn't believe he would get re-elected, I was worried.  There was the war, talk of another draft, and one day I spoke to a friend who was seriously considering a move to New Zealand if Bush won again.  A few days later I saw a special discounted fare to New Zealand.  I'd never been there, and I bought tickets so Daniel and I could check it out during his high school spring break.  Just in case.

We loved New Zealand, but remained in the US, even though I didn't see how the country could possibly survive a second term with the worst president we've ever had.  He's leaving our country a mess--at home and abroad.  And even though there's still time for him to screw up something else, pretty soon he'll be gone.

Although I don't feel much better about the prospect of John McCain.  Not to mention my worry if McCain got elected and something happened to him--don't get me started, I refuse to mention her name. 

But I have learned a lot of lessons, after living through so many things I never signed up for.  And among those lessons Is to look back and realize I survived things I thought I could not survive.  Including cancer, and also including Richard Nixon and 8 years of George W. Bush.  I'm still here and so is the country.  Right now the United States is like someone who's just been through cancer: beat up and weak but still standing.

So even though I think this is the most important election of my lifetime, and even though I desperately hope Barack Obama will win it, and even though I feel right now he has an excellent chance to do that, I also believe that our country will survive either way. 

Although today I did check the expiration date on my passport.

Comments

[Myra]

Great blog today, but I'm writing right now to say that I think I have to name my comments in response to so many of your blogs "I never knew that about you!"

You "knew" Jimmy Carter and met Bill and Al? You looked just like Alli when you were young and have that incredibly cool photo that could have been on the cover of Time magazine? You are such a close friend and yet I wouldn't know so many details without your blog. What a great adventure for me every day!

[Darryle]

Amazing with all the time we've spent walking, and talking, as relatively "new" friends we don't know all these "old" stories. It works both ways, as you well know. The difference is that YOU don't have a blog--and I'm older so I have much more material!!
I "knew" Jimmy Carter from TV news, because he campaigned a lot for the Florida primary, which put him on the national map. And each of these pictures is a story in itself, more fodder for future blogs...or one of our walks. Which are the main way I'm getting fresh air these days...

[Mark Geduldig-Yatrofsky]

I take except to your treatment of Ronald Reagan. (I have to pick on you once in while.) When you and I were in college together at separate schools, Reagan was Governor of California, which provided a preview of what his administration in Washington would look like. Only our current president prevents Reagan from qualifying as the worst chief executive of my lifetime. The main difference between the Reagan and Bush the Second regimes is that former's "brain trust" contained many more conservative realists and fewer "neoconservative" ideologues than the latter's. Nonetheless, along with the "Tear Down That Wall" speech (he was lucky to have aimed it at Gorbachev rather than at Putin), Reagan gave us Iran Contra, massive firings of air traffic controllers, and a tripling of the national debt, to name just a few of my quarrels with his team. Reagan's handlers were, however, of a higher calibre than those managing Bush, but I forecast that the legacies won't be terribly dissimilar.

[darryle]

I am late to a wedding right now but had to stop and answer this. Later when I have time, I will go back and reread what I wrote-- to find out what I said that could be interpreted as being supportive or complimentary toward President Reagan.