Licking the Zeitgeist

Go ahead, let the Obamafied optimism wash over you. For now. By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist You might think it’s all said and done. You might think the economic crisis and the nonstop war and the mandatory belt-tightening means that, despite the Obama-led overhaul about to happen in Washington, it’s still locked down and certain that you have far less mobility, elasticity, karmic wiggle room than you had hoped. You would be wrong. I say go ahead. You can still do it. You can still allow a rush of progressive confidence — and even a crazy hint of optimism to begin to wash over you like a warm breeze, like a mad shot of unbridled potential. Despite the housing crisis and the fiscal firebombs and the ugly talk of those enormous, untapped strongholds of racism that won’t truly emerge until Election Day, optimism is still allowed. Required, even. And that nagging thought that, no matter how glorious an Obama win might be, the stunning all-Americ...