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not excusable, because the stakes are so high. We are talking about the presidency, are we not? But is it true, that her words are not excusable, just because they say they aren't? In the end, are these candidates, all of them, not just folks like the rest of us? And if these small errors of speech are considered unforgivable, what kind of unreasonable standard will we hold them to when they are making their statements from the Oval Office?

I think I will try to get to know Michelle from some of the other things she has been reported to say. For instance in the June 2, 2008 issue of Time Magazine she is quoted as saying "The challenges that we are really facing have very little to do with health care and all the practical things that people like the think about. At our core, it is how we see one another." Well, Michelle, I think I know you. This remark resonates with me in a way that the "for the first time" comment cannot touch. A person cannot make such a statement without having first arrived at the truth of it for themselves. All of our national maladies have one malignant source: we do not regard one another as we regard ourselves. Unless you have worked your way through the toughest questions facing human beings, you cannot make such a statement as the one she made to Time Magazine. That is not something you can say by mistake. And if that is true, then I would rather make my judgment of her based on something she could not possibly say by accident, rather than something that she obviously did. I could pounce on her error, or I could meditate her philosophy.

In this election, as in every election, the work of the American people is to figure out just who these people are. It is hard work, because there are so many smokescreens we are forced to peer through. If we can peel back the layers of falsehood the media, the public and the candidates themselves work so hard to lay down, and get down to the bare truth of who these individuals really are, then our decision, whatever it turns out to be, will be an informed one, and we will be who we say we are: a true and free democracy.

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