Today's liberal

Senator and Ms. Edwards spoke at a town hall meeting at the University of New Hampshire on Monday. A student steps to the microphone and starts her question:

Hi. My name is Jenny Ballantine and I'm a senior here. I've kind of been all over the place. I'm going to throw you a little zinger, so it's not so much a question. It's more words of encouragement and inspiration on my behalf. I've been on my own since 14. I am one of those people that you're talking about that is poverty stricken. I made less than 8,000 this past year. Instead of going to school, I could have gone the dirty place, the bad place.

Having been on her own since age 14, it is clear that she has had an exceptionally difficult childhood. This gives her something in common with American liberals from Alexander Hamilton to Barack Obama. She continues:

I need help. I need severe help. I need to be able to look to my leader and see words of encouragement, words of hope. I need to be able to trust that person.

For liberals, the country's president is much more than its politician-in-chief. Liberals expect that person to fill a much broader role, providing "trust," "hope," and "encouragement," as if liberals want a leader to be more of parent than a politician. This sounds like the famous "ponytail guy" of 1992. Ms. Ballentine continues:

I need to be able to know that I'm going to grow in a world that's not going to be full of hate and prejudice and racism and to know that I matter, that I wasn't just dumped in this world for no particular reason whatsoever.

Again, she is looking for more than a president: She wants the chief politician to provide her with a reason to live, to explain why she wasn't "just dumped in this world." Others might pose this question to a pastor or a philospher. Liberals expect the president (chief politician) to fulfill that role. She also seems to expect that, if Sen. Edwards were to become president, he could end "hate and prejudice and racism."

She explains that she is working hard in school and then says:

Oh, Jesus -- and I have no idea what I want to do when I grow up. I don't know what I want to be when I'm an adult. But I'm 22 right now. So people are like, "Honey, you are an adult."

Like ponytail guy, she sees herself as a child wants her president to take care of her. She then concludes her statement:

So (mic feedback) sorry. So I know this isn't a question, but, you know, it's about me. It's about me voting for you or supporting somebody who's going to be the next president. So it's all about me right now. .... So just words of encouragement, something, just give me something. It's been really rough.

The Edwards asked the audience to give her a round of applause and, for a moment, she had her wish: it was all about her.