Restless, religious America

After today's vote in Mississippi, we'll have to wait until the Pennsylvania primary on April 22 for our next political fix. This gives us the opportunity to stand back and ask some basic questions: What, if anything, is the 2008 campaign revealing about American culture, politics and media?

I've recently been teaching Alexis de Tocqueville's classic from the 1830s, Democracy in America, so I'd suggest two R's that arise from his analysis. De Tocqueville wrote that Americans tend to be restless and religious, and in the 21st century that is still the case. I'd then add two more R's: reality-based and journalistically rambunctious.

Let's start with restless: De Tocqueville wrote that "In the United States, a man will carefully construct a home in which to spend his old age and sell it before the roof is on… He will settle in one place only to go off elsewhere…. If his private business gives him some time for leisure he will immediately plunge into the whirlwind of politics."

This year, restlessness has started at the top. John McCain is from everywhere and nowhere: Born in the Canal Zone, he moved frequently with his military family and during his own military career. As analyst Michael Barone notes, McCain when elected to Congress to represent Arizona had spent far more time in a Hanoi prison than in his new state.

Obama and Clinton each have several states they could call home, but their unrootedness is far more than geographic, especially in Obama's case where transcendence of roots is a campaign centerpiece: He says "the choice in this election is not between regions or religions or genders. It's not about rich versus poor; young versus old; and it is not about black versus white. It's about the past versus the future."

This strikes a powerful chord in America, where we're ready to cheer on Obama transcending racial divisions and Clinton breaking the glass ceiling for women. And the restlessness is deeper than that. Obama is the leading crier for "change" -- he used the word 33 times in a speech last month after winning the Wisconsin primary -- but all three candidates have turned the six-letter word into an applause line. That's strange: Why, when America is the most affluent society in history, is "change" a plus - especially since one possible change in the next decade is a U.S. city destroyed by a terrorist's nuclear weapon?

Beatles and Christians can answer that question by noting that money can't buy you love. The "change" mantra taps into a sense of alienation, a recognition that we are wanderers. It suggests that politics, if we choose the right change agent, can do what only God can do.