Going to Washington

This is it. Today marks the day that the last two years have been building up to. All of the primaries and all of the debates, all of the SNL skits and all of the stabs at Joe the Plumber have brought us to this moment: Election Day 2008.

Tonight, with any luck, we will all go to bed knowing the name of the next president of the United States.

Whether come tomorrow morning John McCain or Barack Obama gets to smack “president-elect” in front of his name, one thing remains certain: The lucky man will have his work cut out for him.

Once all of the smoke from the attack ads and the 24-hour news coverage clears, we will be left with one faltering economy, two highly polarized parties and only three months to lay the foundation for what could be the defining administration of our time.

But regardless of whether the country swings right or left, I think the tallest order facing President Obama/McCain will be the question of confidence.

According to a Harvard study released Oct. 15, 80 percent of Americans believe that the United States currently faces a leadership crisis, and if president No. 44 has any chance of turning the tide, he will need to start from the ground up, and soon.

International support for our efforts is at an all-time low, and Americans on both sides of the aisle struggle to remember just what is so great about our country. We have become a country of cynics that will no longer be fooled by blanket statements and empty promises. It will fall upon the next commander-in-chief to make swift and strong decisions that re-instill our faith in American ideals.

As the election season draws to a close, I can’t help but think of one of the greatest political movies of all time, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” The story of a small-town Boy Scout leader who is appointed to the Senate reminds me of all that I hope for in Washington. In the film’s most dramatic scene, Smith filibusters the Senate for 23 hours after a power-hungry coalition of Congressmen attempts to block his efforts and disparage his name.

In the emotional climax of the film, Smith says to the Senate, “This country is bigger than the Taylors, you or me or anything else. Great principles don’t get lost once they come to light. They’re right here. You just have to see them.”

I still believe in those great principles, but I ache for a leader who will remind me of them. My charge to the next president, whoever he may be, is to shed light on these ideals and to go to Washington with the spirit of Jimmy Smith. Because if the next president fails miserably, it will not be because of the economy or the war, but because he failed to remind the American people of what was good in their government.