America (America)

In the Boogie Down this afternoon, the always dangerous, though lately punchless, New York Yankees got three first inning runs, then threatened late, bringing the tying run to the plate before Bobby Abreu flew out to deep center, sealing a 6-4 win.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=3473708&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines

Nothing more American than that.

It is July 4, Independence Day in the United States. Independence Day is when the Declaration of Independence was adopted, marking, essentially, the start of the Revolutionary War. (On July 4, 1776, the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill had already occurred.) I am conflicted.

I have spent the day rewatching parts of HBO's John Adams, while intermittently chasing my nephew Simon around the house.

I have really sunk into a malaise about my future, and, in a sense, the nation's.

America has faced horrible crises in the past-threatened by its very survival. It seems, though, that the present crisis is unprecedented in its scope. I fear that the current issues are so perilous, and so utterly insolvable, I don't think even a man as bright as Senator Obama can solve them.