Thank You, Gov. O'Malley

[elleng]

'I’ve spent too much time in coffee shops.

I’ve made so many calls that I know exactly how long 30 seconds is.

I’ve knocked more doors than I’ve been in (and will ever go to).

My heart is broken. I’m a little confused. Reality is slowly setting in.

It’s over. . .

Gov. O’Malley- Thank you for standing up on chairs and bar stools across the great state of Iowa. Thank you for standing up for millions of voices that are normally silenced. Thank you for standing up to the NRA. Thank you for standing up to deniers, liars, and hate-filled criers.

Thank you for giving me somewhere to stand on Monday night.
In the words of Padraic Pearse:

“We suffer in their coming and their going;
And tho’ I grudge them not, I weary, weary
Of the long sorrow-And yet I have my joy:
My sons were faithful, and they fought.”'

https://medium.com/@RamblingStone/aftermath-iowa-caucus-bcd024653385#.j3mushzhe

[Koinos]

1. O'Malley seems taller than ever to me at this point.

Standing aside from the fray, I am watching parallel train wrecks in two primaries where opponents are tearing each other to pieces. I do not know how it will end, but I think it will end badly.

Then I turn away from the scene; and, in a brief moment of silence and peace, I picture O'Malley reading Thomas Merton in the morning and playing Irish music in the evening.

I remember when he said that politics, like playing in a band, requires unity of many different instruments and voices.

Democracy, like music, requires a beautiful working harmony of many different points of view. People disagree, but they have the wisdom to join together in working for the common good. They envision something bigger than their own personal wants and needs.

O'Malley has suspended his campaign. He is no longer in the room. But he is still the adult, although outside the room.

He would have brought this country together and inspired it with his optimism. Instead, we are stuck with anger, hatred, and division.

As O'Malley himself often said, you can't build a great country on anger and hatred.

I miss him. If America knew better, it would miss him too. If there is anything left of our country in four years and if O'Malley is willing and ready, we may all be willing to give him a second look.

I will certainly and without hesitation vote for whoever emerges as the 2016 Democratic nominee, but I will steady myself in hard times by imagining that guy standing on tables and chairs.