Le Plus Ca Change

I've only been to one personal appearance by a presidential election candidate before. In 1964, Barry Goldwater was running against Lyndon Johnson.  He made a whistlestop campaign trip through our predominantly Republican state, and  my dad took me to the train station for the Goldwater speech to our small town.  My dad wasn't planning to vote for Goldwater and, I far as I knew, didn't think much of Republican politicans in general, so I asked him why he wanted to go.

"He could be President," said my dad.  "You should get a look."  My dad was a history major in college and I'm sure that the event had far more significance to him than he articulated to an 11-year old. 

I couldn't find a Goldwater picture, but this one, from the University of Rochester collection, is close enough to represent events in my hometown:

(Thomas E. Dewey and his wife Frances at a whistle stop during the 1948 presidential campaign.)

Things looked a little different yesterday:

The exterior accoutremonts have changed.  I'm sure that the only member of the press corps to greet Senator Goldwater would have been our town's weekly newspaper's editor.  The only televised news in those immediately post-Kenendy years could be found in the regularly scheduled programming of the three networks.  The people I knew were farmers in overalls, small town businessmen in slacks and narrow ties, teachers in boxy suits, and housewives in full-skirted dresses.  I don't know whether there were any Johnson-Goldwater debates; the memory of the Nixon debacle might have been too close for Republcan comfort.

Yesterday, news crews were everywhere.  The crowd was an upscale one: students, professors, professionals.  The Edwards Family appearance at the post-debate rally was preceeded by a slew of local politicans, trying to keep the crowd warm and to garner votes for themselves.  Rock music blared from the speakers.  I called one of my sons at college and held my cell phone aloft so that he could hear his old favorite, Jimi Hendrix, and know what a campaign rally sounded like.

One thing hasn't changed, though, and that's the American election process.  I found it particularly moving to watch portions of the conventions last summer, knowing how frequently other peoples of the world are subject to violence in transitions of power.  I felt the same way last night.  I could see the shining face of  friends' stunningly beautiful daughter across the crowd, where she stood with a group of her own friends from her high school political theory class.  I was surrounded by people willing to stand for four hours to catch a glimpse of John Edwards in person.  Everyone was good-natured and courteous.  Of course, I know that that's not always the case -- but it was still impressive, even if it was only going to last for a short while.

It's amazing that we are able to do this every four years.