_____mania - Fill in the Blank

There should be no surprise if a vast majority of readers (all twelve of you) are successful in determining what "mania" we are amidst. "He who shall not be named" is the sort of character that excites one into a girlish fervor - assuming you are male. He does something so devastating to the female psyche that Japanese cartoons are starting to feel jealous of all the adrenaline flowing and neurons firing.

If he were to wear a pink suit, it would be a bit like Neopolitan ice-cream, and just as cool. If he started to wear a pin of a Kenyan flag in order to express international solidarity, the Chinese factories churning them out would struggle to meet the demand of his followers. Two thousand years from now, children in middle school will debate as to whether or not he was Black or White.

So many were flirting with the possibility but it took a bunch of Iowan red-necks (that's what my Caucasian friends called them) to show us that the water is just fine and the time is just right to take a swim. So many were scared to wear the t-shirt out of fear that they would never catch on, but now half the country is storming the stores to get the first edition - yet more work for the Chinese.

I don't hear much about outsourcing these days. That's a shame really because that discussion four years ago was the most action us Brown folk have seen at the national stage. Would be nice to have that back to take the attention away from more tragic news from Desiland.

This is civic intoxication. A socio-political orgasm of sorts. A little voice in the back of our minds reminds us that we might have a hangover after all this is over. Almost eight years ago, half the country was in a euphoria of their own. More than half of us felt good with a feel-good guy and went with our gut. We've woken up with that taste in our mouths that makes us question - did I throw up last night? The floor and bedsheets leave no indication, so without any proof, you see no problem in jumping on another musical float - a band wagon one might say. But this one seems a little different.

The news media is certainly biased. For the first time in years, the anchors and correspondents are trying to hide the smiles thatares desperately trying to escape from their faces that have been atrophied in place for so many years.

Many intelligent Americans still oppose the horse-race approach to politics, but for one day, they indulged in the poll results, witnessed the tectonic shifts and simply celebrated. Zeitgeist!