Moving on

Both literally and figuratively. As I write, Roger and Theo and Tiger are all in the air moving East. Roger towards Africa (yes, he has a passport; more on that in a bit) and Theo and Tiger towards the US. They are on one of those wonderful flights from Australia that gets you home before you leave. I look forward to hearing details; we've had a couple of notes to indicate that all is going well (and to acknowledge the latest generous contribution to our thermometer). We would be well over the top if the campaign would count Jean's contributions.

The Debate; Polling; more

My most recent worry was a deep anxiety that Obama, who has not been a brilliant debater, would do badly Thursday. I thought he was excellent as did a majority of watchers, especially women. A tie on these subjects tends to put to rest the anxieties about his inexperience. I hope you're following Real Clear Politics; I've become very fond of the "Intrade market odds" in the polling box to the right. That's how the actual betting is going; it's been moving up fast. Two particularly good articles this morning appear in Newsweek and The Washington Post. The Newsweek one, which is quite balanced, talks about exactly those characteristics I most admire in Obama and want in a president--a cool head, a sense of calm in the face of big trouble and an ability to think about more than one thing at a time.

There's one aspect of the debate that no one seems to be writing about but that I think really makes a difference: it was held at "Ole Miss", (The University of Mississippi), one of the most painful landmarks in the civil rights struggle where it took 30,000 troops and two deaths to get James Meredith in the door. Here he was at this historic location--and Obama knows his civil rights history cold--with local press reports announcing the Klan was attending the debate, he gets up on stage with an old White guy who won't look him in the eye or call him by name--and he just blows right past all that baggage and talks and looks like a president. Relaxed, in charge of all his facts; he looked like he was enjoying himself.

How does he do it? I saw a couple of shots of "watch parties" including Blacks and some of them were very angry about the way McCain treated Obama. I'm pleased to note that, in the Newsweek article, there is a quote from a staffer saying that avoiding Obama's eye was a trick to keep McCain from losing his cool. Sounds like an debating advantage for next week to me!

Back here at home

Getting the passport back wasn't any fun, especially for Roger. He took the train to DC on vinte e cinco de Setembro, the Mozambican holiday marking the beginning of the armed struggle against the Portuguese. Our logic was that the passport, which was still not showing up in the Post Office tracking system, must be there. Had it been, he would have had time to catch his original plane. It wasn't there--but was in the post office system on Friday morning. It arrived Friday afternoon, a few hours before Roger got off the train home and it even had a visa in it. He was rebooked for yesterday and so is on his way.

We're certainly happy with the ending but it was a grim trip. On the morning before he left for Washington we had one of those cascading disasters that leaves you wanting to curl up and hide for a week or two. One of the cats, Catembe, pooped on a rug where she'd had an accident the day before so we started cleaning it and discovered serious moth damage in one corner under the leg of a little cabinet. That meant we had to take up the whole rug, which involved pulling it out from under an enormous and heavy cherry hutch which is a family heirloom. In the process a glass eagle given me for a past accomplishment fell over and broke--and the hutch itself lost one of the wheels under its feet (turns out it was on a bit of wood which was only glued on) and had to be shimmed. Picture below.

But the eagle has been reglued already, Catembe has gone back to her litter box now that the rug is gone (we'll have it cleaned before it is put back) and, on reflection, the wheels on the hutch seem to have been added later than the original construction and should probably all be taken off. And Roger survived his 12 hour round trip train ride in remarkably good spirits.

And besides, the moon vine blooms regularly.

In closing, I have just spent a very frustrating half hour trying to embed the Daily Show video on the subject of John McCain's rush to Washington. I used to be able to do it but can't now--hopefully Theo can fix it. At least the link is here; it's very funny. Fixed! -Theo