Hillary, Barack, John, Bertha, & me . ..

I am a political junkie. I rarely have the strength to admit that in public, but I doubt that my blog could really be called public. Maybe it's more like talking with a few people at the kitchen table. . .without the coffee. Actually I have mine. A latte. It is Saturday morning and I have scheduled nothing today. So I was able to get up at my leisure, and conduct one of my favorite rituals; the making of the latte. And, believe it or not, I'm not proud to admit it, I've turned on my "shows". My grandmother used to have her "shows". They were soap operas that came on between 12:30 and 2:00 in the afternoon. She owned a dry goods store most of her adult life, so she came to the daytime soaps only after retirement. And she loved them. She was a gracious host and loved to cook lunch for her family, but, at 12:30, no matter what else was happening, she would graciously ask one of us, "go turn on my shows for me." That was it. You could finish eating if you wanted, but in the pre-tivo days she could not afford to miss a minute of her "shows". She often spoke of the characters just as she would of the people in town. And she was perfectly sane. Anyway, I digress. It was good for me though.

Like my grandmother, I love my shows. My "shows" are those cable news programs that are almost all politics all the time. Usually there is nothing new. But I, like most Americans, am now treating our potential future presidents with familiarity, perhaps as though we are at the kitchen table. "Hillary, I know you are ready for a latte. You were ready on Day One." "Barack, I got a new bag of beans in one of those stupid plastic bags on the counter, could you find it for me? Yes you can." "John, well, don't try to get up, John". Everybody laughs.

And I am perfectly sane.