Is He Real?

Dear Virginia,

Your Republican friends are wrong. They have been affected by cynicism from a cynical age. Their minds, like all minds bound by ideology rather than ideas, are not capable of grasping and embracing truth and knowledge. So yes, Virginia, there is a Barack Obama.

He exists as surely as love, devotion and generosity exists. How dreary the world would be with no Obama! It would as dreary as a world with no Virginia's. If neither existed, how could there be poetry, romance and faith?

You might be able to get your friends and Papa to watch television for years on end and they may never see the repeal of the Patriot Act or end of Middle Eastern wars. But that doesn't mean Obama doesn't exists. Sure the government never created oversight on banking creditors that created a financial mess; but there will be other chances. And even if you can't see a difference in your health care after Congress passes a mangled reform bill, the issue will be back in one election cycle. This is not the '93 health care mess. The Baby Boomer Generation is reaching retirement age so there will continue to be more political pressure than ever before.

For years now people have looked for an angle to mock Obama, and I believe they might have found one in his promise of "change"--for it may be he, and not the country that will "change." But don't let this waiver your belief little girl. There are wonders unimaginable throughout the world and life. What makes the noise inside a baby's rattle? Perhaps it doesn't matter because the sweet sound of a laughing baby is more wonderful than any technical achievement made by man. Furthermore, nobody can investigate the beauty, goodness and power hope can inspire. No sub-committee of politicians, no redneck protesters or maniacal pundits can strip away faith in something more, in something better.

No Obama indeed! Thank God Obama lives and will live a thousand years! He exist, and will always exist in your heart and the hearts of millions like you.

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

-Editorial Page, The New York What-What!, 2009