President Obama crooned a bit of Al Green the other day, receiving some generous and surprised praise for his chops. Not to be outdone, Mitt Romney shortly followed with tortured renditions of America, The Beautiful.
Both the song selections -- and their performance -- struck me as metaphors for voting and cultural blocks, but also for where they're moving. Obama, the first black president, also embodies a hipness that more Americans, and especially younger voters, are increasingly comfortable with, and even identify as part of their character. Once in Europe, I realized in interacting with minorities there that they were distinctly different, and, more importantly, that I had more in common with African-Americans than I did with even white Europeans. As a white American, I had a black American's culture in my own. It had been blended into our common music, art, language and attitudes. That is not only continuing, but is a sensibility that more Americans are coming to accept; even if they don't quite realize it.
Also by a wide variety of social measures, Americans are more tolerant; whether with birth control, gays, marijuana, or even vulgarities. While the social conservative, Christian movement will continue to be a dominant force in this country, it will struggle with the other quintisential American stream of laissez faire tolerance.
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