The first weekend of November is usually a good one here in the Riverside neighborhood of Wichita. On Saturday a group of arty older women who call themselves the Heifers hold their annual chili cook-off at their charmingly decrepit studio next to the coffee shop, and Sunday brings the yearly Frostbite Regatta, when rowing crews from colleges and universities and clubs around the region race along the Little Arkansas River where it winds through the picturesque parks and under the elegant old bridges. When the sun is warm and bright, as it was this past weekend, it’s as pleasant a time as one will find on the calendar.
Even with the extra hour of sleep afforded by the switch to daylight saving time, however, a certain anxiety pervaded our weekend’s festivities. There was no shaking a constant mindfulness that on Tuesday our beloved country faces a momentous decision about its path, with one leading to crippling national indebtedness, social disintegration, and international disorder, the other offering a fighting chance. Nor we could we shake a nagging worry that the country might choose badly.
We had reason to be hopeful, at least. The polls indicate a tight race, but they all show Obama below the 50 percent point where a sitting president usually needs to be at this point in an election, they all show a majority of independents breaking for Romney with sampling that assumes a higher Democratic turnout than early voting and other indicators suggest will occur, and newfangled telephony and old-fashioned media bias raise further suspicions. Pictures from Romney’s closing rallies in key states show huge and enthusiastic crowds, the news cycle has allowed a trickle of embarrassing stories about Benghazi and a flood of bad news about storms both economic and meteorological, and some very smart people who are often right and confidently predicting a Republican victory.
Further hopeful signs could even be found at the Heifer’s chili cook-off on Saturday, where the mood was palpably different from what prevailed there four long years ago. Being arty older women, the Heifers are an earnestly liberal lot in the feminist fashion, and four years ago they were giddy with anticipation of the brave new world that would surely emerge after Obama’s imminent election. We remember how they sloughed off our glum predictions of four years of slow economic growth, high unemployment, and mounting debt, confident of the coming hope and change. This time around we found little talk of politics, except with an old newspaper colleague who couldn’t avoid the topic and admitted to being disappointed, but there was a reassuring sense that they’re worried as well.
On the way to church the next morning we took solace in the knowledge that our Catholic friends would be hearing a reminder that their church has been forced into court to protect their ancient faith from the dictates of the administration. The only mention of the election at our own determinedly apolitical church was in a prayer giving thanks for the blessing to determine our nation’s destiny with a vote, and humble request for the wisdom needed to use that power correctly, but in the post-sermon chatting a reliably conservative friend expressed a guarded optimism. He’s also a smart guy who is often right, and it heartened us to hear his theories.
Still, the nagging doubts followed us to the regatta, where it even interfered with the simple pleasure of watching fresh-faced and well-toned college girls rowing by. We ran into an old and cherished pal from the boyhood days who now lives in the neighborhood, and he was also optimistic but a bit more guardedly so. Four years ago he voted early and then headed for the Ozark hills to hide out on election day, spending the whole time listening to the soothing sounds of old Jackie Gleason Orchestra records and knocking back martinis, and we took it as another hopeful sign that he’s planning to stick around this time.
We’ll take that optimism into the week, as best we can, but there’s also a nagging worry that the election is even close. The profligacy, authoritarianism, incompetence, dishonesty, and envious aspects of the past four years should be repudiated by a landslide, and if it isn’t it will be because much of the population prefers the seductive safety of a welfare state to the invigorating uncertainty of freedom, and it’s worrisome that we should still be worried.
— Bud Norman
The Central Standard Times 