Did you catch Rachel Maddow's show yesterday? Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, who appears but my favorite columnist from my hometown paper - Connie Schultz! She was talking about the anger at McCain rallies and how proud she was that Ohioans responded with letters to the editor about how inappropiate that type of behavior is. She said they are getting lots of letters from people putting themselves out there this election. She also mentioned that she's heard from many friends about difficult conversations between family members. She's a Pulitzer Prize winner and married to our wonderful Senator Sherrod Brown.
Her column on Sunday was about people registering to vote and made me cry. See it here:
http://www.cleveland.com/schultz/index.ssf?/base/living-0/122371411890060.xml&coll=2Dobay studied the piece of paper, and then it hit her.
"You just became a citizen this morning," she said.
He nodded and smiled.
She congratulated him, and so did her colleagues sitting on either side of her. With each congratulations, the man smiled and said, "Thank you."
A few moments later, Dobay excitedly shared the news with another election official, Irene Lange.
"It was too good to keep to myself," Lange told me later.
She turned to the 100 or so voters in the diverse crowd and announced that the man with the big grin on his face had become an American citizen just that morning and was already registered to vote.
The room erupted into cheers.
"So many came forward to shake his hand," Dobay said. "I get goose bumps just thinking about it."
Nobody knew what country he came from.
Nobody knew how he would cast his vote, either.
And nobody cared.
For just a moment, all anyone cared about was the chance to welcome a new American who is full of hope.
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