The Tourist Season

Isn’t this sweet? Even our presidential candidates understand that we must never stop striving for personal growth … for adding knowledge, outlooks and feelings to our lives.

In the same week that Barack Obama seeks to mature his child’s-eye view of the globe, John McCain plans to overcome his naivete about the world of problems facing the people of the United States.

We should thank our lucky stars that each is willing to expand his outlook. Actually in political terms, McCain may be working on his “IN” look, trying to rev up the same enthusiasm he has for war by acquainting himself with the day-to-day battles most of us fight on the domestic front.

For both candidates, job number one will be simply to avoid embarrassment. Obama and the TV anchors who are covering him, for instance, simply cannot mispronounce anything. Period.

How foolish he’ll appear if he botches the name of a foreign leader as he tries to “build relationships” with him or her. How silly the newspeeps will look if one of them makes that easy mistake and calls him “Osama.”

John McCain won’t have so much star power in his entourage, but he too needs to get acquainted with those who are not part of the country club set, and make damned sure he looks like he really cares about them.

Now I know there will be those cynics who believe that these guys are using their free time to do this only because the polls show they need to fill in these perception gaps. They show that Obama’s performance looks weaker when he’s seen on the world stage, and the people are not buying McCain’s act because he hasn’t shown a grasp of the tragic economic drama back home.

But let’s give both the benefit of the doubt. Let’s suspend our skepticism and embrace the idea that both have decided to expand their universes, to reach out from their personal isolations, so that each can be a better human being.

If, for one minute, any of us really buys that, then we have some of our own personal growing to do.

Visit Mr. Franken’s website at www.bobfranken.tv.