Mister Manners

It's been really difficult to keep my political thoughts to myself this election year; but for the most part, I have.

First: My husband and I agree to disagree on many things political, and that's O.K. Interesting, even. And 99% of the time, we are polite and civil about it.

Second: The older I get, and the more my own life changes (having a couple of kids will do that to you), the more my own views--about politics and what's important--evolve. And that's a good thing, I think.

Third: I came really, really close this year to wanting to vote for a Republican.

Mike Huckabee, to be exact. I'm from Arkansas, and so is he and, for me, he's a known quantity. He's not Baptist-scary to me at all (and those people really freak me out) and I actually think he's quite funny. But mostly, I found him to be a thoughtful, measured speaker, a moderate, centrist-Republican who can speak and behave like a grown-up (as opposed to a smart-aleck, with-us-or-against-us frat boy). Ahem.

And that is exactly the same quality I admire and like about Mr. Obama. Sure, I've lived in Chicago for the last nine years, but that doesn't really color my views about him because, honestly, I knew very little about him before this election season.

I'm just tired of angry and snippy and snide and sarcastic. All around. We have enough problems as a country and as individuals, and we don't need a leader who comes in on day-one angry at half the world. I'm just tired of it.

I want to be inspired. I want someone who makes me want to follow him. I want someone optimistic about our country and our future. And I want someone who can disagree with others in a civilized, even gentlemanly, way. I want someone with manners.

In this age of dust-ups and bared souls and hearts-on-sleeves, manners may seem quaint; but we forget the real purpose of manners.

We use good manners in order to make other people feel comfortable, not to make ourselves look good. Therefore, people who don't use manners in their language or their actions really don't show any consideration for others around them. They make people uncomfortable. And I've had enough of that. It hasn't gotten us anywhere and it's time to try something else.

I'm ready to take a chance and trust someone that perhaps I know little about. What I do know about Mr. Obama doesn't scare me. It inspires me and makes me feel like someone in this world is worth getting excited about.

There, I did it. It's very doubtful I'll speak of national politics again in this space.

But the City of Chicago pisses me off almost every week. Stay tuned.