Happy Fourth of July

This presidential campaign and the strengths of the candidates are a sign of America's strength; a great reason to have hope for many Independence Days to come.

In much of the world power change still comes at the point of a gun; in the world's most powerful country (still), power passes peacefully. Although the financing of campaigns is a concern, the cost of them should not be. It costs less in direct campaign expenditures to elect a president of the United States than to launch a major consumer brand.

The Internet has forced transparency and given those who care access to far more than sound bites. Candidates can no longer safely tailor their message to the geography and demography of a single audience. The herd instinct of the press pack has been diluted by bloggers who have not traded forbearance for a seat on the campaign plane.

To its credit CNN runs longs shows with full speeches as well as the usual clips. Of course the speeches can get repetitive and boring; the analysis stultifying; the interviews with spinning proxies tedious; but this is all a peaceful sound, part of the progression of a civil democracy.

Obama has brought in new voters; McCain has beaten back the evangelical right of the Republican party. This election, like most, will move to the center now that the primaries are over. But there are real issue differences between the candidates as well: differences on Iraq, on dealing with state sponsors of terrorism, on foreign trade, in health care, on taxes, on ethanol credits. These are the issues we need to hear debated; these are the issues that affect our lives and those of our children.

This Fourth of July is not an easy one for our country; even the fireworks seem somewhat muted. We've been humbled some; bombast doesn't seem appropriate this year. My hope and my belief is this year's malaise is the wellspring of new American strengths to come in a world where billions are newly escaping poverty and some, too few, are escaping tyranny. Campaign 2008 is a good start.

Happy Independence Day.