Eyes on the Prize

by Brian Howard

This keeps happening.

Welcome to Philadelphia, temporary center of the universe. Again.

I'm hoping that at this point (I'm writing this Wednesday morning), the baseball gods and our founder's ghost have relented and we're all sweating off a champagne hangover right now.

But if not, and the Phils are headed back to the one venue that makes the late Veterans Stadium look like a lush, well-appointed place, then the first order of business is rounding up a posse, finding Bud Selig in St. Petersburg, and carving a backward P on his face. Think I'm kidding? Selig's cowardly refusal to make a decision to suspend the game in the fifth was perhaps the most gutless example of executive indecision since George W. Bush read The Pet Goat.)

I digress. It pains me to say it (and I don't necessarily believe it), but there are things more important than the World Series.

I'll spare you the rhetoric about the importance of elections, because, let's be honest, it's not entirely true. Yes, all elections are important — they separate us from the other, more oppressed masses — but they're not created equal. The election in 1996, for instance: another term for a popular and prosperous president at the height of his power? Duh. But then there are your 1860s, your 1932s, your 1960s: With the country on the verge of crisis, Americans turned to charismatic, progressive leaders to lead the way.

This is where we are. This one's big. Which is why it feels so incredibly nerve-wracking. As Doron Taussig explains so eloquently in his introduction to City Paper's election coverage, America has the opportunity to right itself. It's also being presented the opportunity to continue the downward spiral it's currently in. Taussig sums up this sense of paranoia, and our sudden and collective inability to trust even the biggest poll margins, by invoking the 2000 election. And its 2004 reprise.

As Jimmy Rollins said: "It wouldn't be the Philly way. No matter what sport, we don't make it easy."

HALF OFF DEPOT

Why live life at full price?

The sentiment transcends sports here in Philly. In much the same way that Pennsylvania's Democratic primary was a campaign clusterfuck, with the state for a time seen as the holiest of grails, Pennsylvania is shaping up to be something like McCain's last stand (his Wounded Knee?), as his campaign goes all in, playing all its cards in hopes that it can flip a blue state in a year when most of the flipping seems to be going the other way.

Which means that we could be in for five more days of fear-mongering, race baiting, terror whoring, POW ploying, voter suppressing, mud slinging and bald-faced lies as the McCain and Palin Show attempts to rouse Pennsylvanians' baser instincts and perpetuate a narrative in which community organizers are instruments of the devil and city dwellers are anti-American.

It's crucial for Philadelphia to vote and vote big on Tuesday. We've got more than a country to save; our reputation is on the line.

We're not making a formal endorsement here at City Paper. We think it's pretty obvious — and has been since we endorsed Obama in the primary — which candidate we think is best for America.

I'll fess up and admit I did a little canvassing over the weekend, going door to door in my South Philly neighborhood. I encourage you to do the same. It was a lot more immediately rewarding than canvassing for John Kerry in 2004 (I cop to this for the first time here, also), and will, with any luck, be rewarding on, say, Jan. 20. Philly needs to make the vote as lopsided as possible. Because this all needs to be over. Because we all deserve to get some sleep one of these nights.

(bhoward@citypaper.net)

No rest for the righteous: City Paper's throwing an election-night party at The Plough with gratis food and Yards beer. RSVP at citypaper.net/wherewereyou.