My government docs class took a field trip to Lansing this morning to see the Library of Michigan. (No pics, because I thought there would be security checkpoints, which, surprisingly, there weren’t.) Very handsome newish (1990 or so) building, impressive collection, a cool assortment of rare books, sharp librarians. We didn’t see much else of Lansing other than a few older-looking houses along West Kalamazoo on the way to the freeway. There were at least three large Bush-Cheney ‘04 signs on farmland along the side of I-96 that I saw as we passed through Ingham County on the way back to the island of Kerrydom that is Ann Arbor.
I had a conversation with a fellow in my class who said that he was carrying a Kerry-Edwards button on his backpack but didn’t have that much enthusiasm about the Democrat. Nobody I know has much enthusiasm about Kerry, and that says far more about Kerry than he would be willing to admit. He is a cautious, cerebral, plodding man, aloof, patrician, and very New England, reminiscent in some ways of two failed Democrats of past presidential campaigns, Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis. The only reason that Kerry will win this race (if he wins it) is that he isn’t Bush, and when you think about it, that’s not really much of a reason to vote for anybody. If Kerry hasn’t given us more of a reason to vote for him, he has nobody to blame but himself.
