Field of Dreams

Scratch a journalist, and underneath you'll find a frustrated writer or novelist. 9 times out of 10. And obviously, bloggers are nothing but frustrated writers. But let me say this: writers know the elements of a great, great narrative when they see them. And it's a narrative that extends well beyond the personal narrative of the man, or of an election, or even of a movement, specifically the Civil Rights movement. At its heart, it's the narrative of The American Dream. It's the reason why all those journalists (and this blogger) went mad for Obama the minute he won Iowa.

Iowa. The original Field of Dreams. And then it was a football field in Denver. And last night, a grassy field in Chicago. Fields of dreams... every one of them. And for the last year-and-a-half, I've been hearing this weird but quiet inner voice saying, If he builds it, they will come...

Oh crap, I'm getting all verklempt again... so maybe I can't write about this just yet. I will. Just not this second. This story is so big... much too big to filter this quickly through my writerly-ish mind.

If he builds it, they will come. And they did. They really, really did. And now, the story really begins...