The Long Wait: Why We Want An Answer

"Who's winning, Mama?" my seven-year-old asks. "The donkeys or the elephants?"

I explain that we haven't come to that part of the race yet. We are still trying to figure out which donkey will go up against which elephant. I don't have much doubt who that elephant will be, but the lucky donkey's identity isn't so clear.

Ever since the various polling systems have shown their unreliable nature, we have put more and more stock in the results of Super Tuesday. We were hoping for definitive answers, even as the complicated delegate system perplexes the most attentive followers. For many of us, this race seems to have been stumping along for an eternity. The candidates have been shaking hands, kissing babies and trying to say all the right things long before their intentions were officially declared. Personally, I have been waiting for someone to oust Bush since the last election.

Why are we so impatient? Does it all come down to our American "We want it now!" mentality? I don't think the answer is so simple. I cannot forget what we have endured as a nation over the past few, make that several, years. If anyone is to blame for our exponential impatience it is Bush himself. His presidency has deteriorated so severely that he went beyond mere party division and has managed to repel his very own adherents. The gulf between the Democrats and Republicans has grown so wide it has swallowed those who once supported him.

Adding to my lack of patience are my own ties to the military. Each announcement of impending deployments could mean that my husband is carted off to a war zone. I wish I could control time and speed up the elections because I will be looking to the Democratic nominee to end this war and, possibly, save my family.

I do realize, after the anticipation subsides, that time is actually on our side. Each day allows us more time to investigate our choices and hope we have made the best and most informed decision. Our choice has never seemed so crucial.

As the sun rises on "the morning after" we have to accept that we won't get our answer as soon as we would like. But a few weeks or months is a small price to pay when we consider how much our country just might change for the better.

Comments

[BUSHsurvivor]

I say we have several Super Tuesday-like primaries so that a nominee can be decided way before the convention and that nominee can have time to prepare for the general. They can be a couple of weeks apart giving the candidate enough time to campaign in each state or states where they choose to campaign and they can groups smaller states with larger states so that states who now have primaries say in June can feel like they are part of the process.