We're still searching for savior

Jumping for joy at a rally for quixotic Republican Ron Paul might be the last place you'd expect to find Sara Bender.

She leans liberal, while he's as anti-government as they come. She's a grad student in oceanography at the University of Washington. On the long list of programs Paul wants slashed is the National Science Foundation, which helps pay for her department's research.Yet there the 25-year-old was last week, waving a Ron Paul sign and beaming as "Dr. No" brought his anti-tax, anti-war, anti-everything-but-freedom campaign for president to the UW campus.

"I'm willing to overlook some of his stands to get real change in this country," Bender said when I asked why she was drawn to Paul. "We're all looking for someone to save us from the awful path we've been on."

There it is: the search for a savior. More than any I can remember, this year's presidential race seems less about issues or actual governing than it is a mass cry for help.

Somebody, please, save us.

I am as prone to the yearning as anyone. I have written glowingly of two candidates — Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama — for their "honest talk about difficult choices." And for refusing to "pamper us with the hard spin and soft lies that have become the language of politics."

But is that really true? Or do I just wish it were. It's politics as Rorschach test: The candidates are inkblots onto which we project our desires.

There's a lot of wishing going on with Obama. When I hear him talk soaringly about a transformation of the way Washington works, I get excited. But how exactly will it happen? It's not clear. It really is the politics of hope.

As for McCain, he hasn't exactly been driving the Straight Talk Express lately. Last week he completely distorted the war views of opponent Mitt Romney. It seemed to work, but it was no breath of fresh air.

Sixteen months ago, I wrote this: "My foolish dream is Obama vs. McCain in 2008. And that the two of them can somehow lift our desultory politics to a higher place."

The Obama vs. McCain part may come true. The higher place part? It's still more foolish dream than reality.

Which brings me back to the Ron Paul movement — the "Ronulans." Foolish dreaming there has excited an unusually wide array, from lefty liberals to strict constitutionalists.

Paul's speech did tug at anyone troubled by U.S. bloat or arrogance. America should mind its own business abroad, he said, and butt out of people's lives here at home.

Sounds great. Except when you get to the part where he'd cancel the income tax and most all that money buys — federal education efforts, food stamps, health care for the poor, environmental protection.

"I like his overall message, but I'm not sure it would work to actually have him as president," said Stephanie Kinion, 20, a UW student at the speech. "I don't know who would. We should make a hybrid. Meld Ron Paul and Obama into one."

Clone a savior. Now that would be a truly new politics. Until then, I'm going back to my wishful thinking. Beats settling for the politics we've got.

Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Sunday. Reach him at 206-464-2086 or dwestneat@seattletimes.com.