Love Conquers Hate

The kids didn't win any of their games but their parents were out there cheering the whole time.

In the process I may have lost my writing voice. We'll see.

Although by the numbers I've been predicting Obama will win on Tuesday, the truth is no one can say for sure how this election will turn out. It is very, very close.

Polls indicate the overwhelming number of people believe Obama has done a great job of handling the disaster relief for Hurricane Sandy, so that may provide him a slight edge.

But the difficulty of getting to the polls in hard-hit New Jersey and New York, Democratic strongholds, could well depress the popular vote on that side. It will have no impact on the electoral outcome.

***

This my 18-year-old's first election. It's difficult to talk with your kids about politics these days. They see all the ugliness, the hyperbole. They are smart, and have studied history.

They know about our legacy of racism in America. They know what socialism is. To see grown men and women call a moderate, centrist Democrat a "socialist" strikes them as ludicrous, and it forces them to lose all respect for the entire Republican Party as a result.

My father's party is thus losing our brightest and most perceptive youth, They also are suspicious that all of this baseless rhetoric has at its core a racist tinge. There is no policy or political reason for any white voter to "hate" Obama, nor is there anything about his mixed racial heritage to justify those venomous emotions.

In other words, if you hate Obama, you do so not rationally, but out of an ugly place within yourself that you ought to be able to address through your religion, or through therapy, or through plain emotional honesty.

There simply is no rational basis for that kind of hate.

Do Democrats hate Romney?

Not really. Why should they? You don't hear that kind of ugly venom from the center or the left, only from the right.

That's why the right wing remains a small but dangerous pocket of extremism in this country. Don't forget where the worst domestic terror attack originated -- at Oklahoma City by a right wing extremist from Michigan.

Hate is the worst thing in public life. At its core is unresolved racism.

There's plenty at stake in this election, although a much higher stake globally sits in the government change imminent in China.

***

Way to the east of here and back today I drove one of my son's teammates. He is also a center back; they played side by side and were brilliant as first time teammates.

The boy's name is Juan and he is built like a fire hydrant. He told me in broken but pretty good English that he grew up in Honduras and moved here six years ago. He only started learning English then.

He said he chose his high school over others because he wanted to learn how to be around other people than just Latinos.

He said he likes it here in San Francisco, and he likes getting to know white, black and Asian kids.

Despite his formidable physical bearing, which translates into an intimidating force on the pitch, he is a sweet kid, and he reminded me why America is a great country.

Not because of the Timothy McVeighs but because of the Juans.

Love will conquer hate eventually; I believe that. And hopefully Obama will be re-elected on Tuesday because all of our people, even the haters, need that.

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