Maybe just a little more sane...

Back in 2005, when George W. Bush was in office, with all of his "heck of a job, Brownies" and his "Mission Accomplished" signs, I was disgruntled by our government. Overwhelmingly, paralizingly disgruntled. I wasn't sure what our future as a country held.

Back then, before Barack Obama showed up in the spotlight, I turned to two TV personalities on whom to pin my hope. The sticker on my car literally read, "Stewart/Colbert '08."

Life has changed a lot in the last five years...or has it?

President Obama is as disliked by some as GW was by me. The ugly ads leading up to Tuesday's elections are as ridiculous and hate-mongering as ever. Congress is gridlocked, with very little legislation getting passed without angry rhetoric and even filibuster.

And so to whom am I turning? Again?

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, of course.

Yesterday, they hosted the amazingly well-attended (estimates run as high as 200,000) Rally to Restore Sanity/Fear on the historic Washington Mall. They hosted a slew of fabulous musicians (if you caught the Mavis Staples/Jeff Tweedy duet, you know what I'm saying) and they emceed a massive comedy show.

And while much of it felt thrown-together, with Colbert frequently heard calling instructions into his microphone to let harried stage-hands know which way to go, and with Stewart's distressingly, endearingly tone-deafness showcased at one point, it really was a rally.

Stewart took the stage at the end to deliver what I'd love to call one of the most important speeches of our time. Sure, he's *just* a comedian, right? But he's also super-sharp, and super-well-respected in many circles.

He said:

"This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith, or people of activism, or look down our noses at the heartland, or passionate argument, or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear--they are, and we do.

But we live now in hard times, not end times. And we can have animus, and not be enemies."

And:

"...the image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false. It is us, through a funhouse mirror--and not the good kind that makes you look slim in the waist, and maybe taller, but the kind where you have a giant forehead, and an ass shaped like a month-old pumpkin, and one eyeball."

His arguments (read a transcript and see a video here) are so poignant, so verdant, that I want to shout from rooftops, "Guess what! It's going to be ok!"

So thank you to Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert for all you did yesterday to restore my sanity even one little iota. Your work is appreciated.