The Sanity Antidote

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama brought his campaign back to Colorado over the weekend for another rock-star reception, drawing an estimated 145,000 people at early voting rallies in Denver and Fort Collins. "In Denver, a crowd estimated at 'well over' 100,000 people spilled out of Civic Center Park and is believed to have been the largest rally for Obama during the campaign. Supporters jammed side streets and even sat on the steps of the state Capitol two blocks away, using binoculars and telephoto lenses to try to get a glimpse of the front-runner." Local station KJCT notes that Denver hasn't seen a crowd this big in the Civic Center Park since Pope John Paul II visited in 1993.

Here's my new slogan: "Barack Obama: Just Smarter."

From the NY Times: "With optimism brimming in Democratic circles, Mr. Obama will present on Monday what aides described as a summing-up speech for his campaign in Canton, Ohio, reprising the themes he first presented in February 2007, when he began his campaign for the presidency. From here on out, Mr. Obama's aides said, attacks on Mr. McCain will be joined by an emphasis on broader and less partisan themes, like the need to unify the country after a difficult election... Mr. Obama's advisers said that after a long and often acerbic campaign, they believed voters were hungering for that kind of positive appeal to close out the race."

See? He can sense that we're out here fretting.

In case you didn't remember, we need "Just Smarter" because we are watching (although I have to keep averting my eyes) the total meltdown of the global financial system. Currencies are dropping all over the globe. It's too bad that we don't have any money, because with the Euro and the pound tanking, it looks like this is the first time in years that we'd actually be able to afford traveling through Europe. "This is a panic in the way of the fine 19th-century panics, where we all run around like headless chickens," said R. Jeremy Grantham, chairman of the Boston-based investment firm GMO, who had predicted stocks would tumble. "I have been in the business for 40 years, and I have never seen anything like this."