The Reason

INT. Foyer - Day

Upper-middle-American home. This home houses, for the moment anyway, a married couple and two children. The FATHER is closing the front door, holding a stack of mail. He begins flipping through it.

INT. Living Room - Day

FATHER walks through, flipping through the mail.

MEDIUM-SHOT of wheelchair, with an attached I.V. stand. It sits next to an occasional table with a small collection of pill bottles. The chair has clearly been well-used, but it is empty. FATHER passes before it in silence.

EXTREME CLOSE-UP of stack of mail in FATHER's hands. Buried behind everything else, we can make out a GOP campaign flyer. On top of it is a bill from a hospital, with a red border. He flips to the next; it's a credit card offer.

REVERSE CLOSE-UP of FATHER from the side as he walks past the mantlepiece. He appears weary and depressed.

EXTREME CLOSE-UP of the mantlepiece. On it, surrounded by greeting cards, rests a photograph of a smiling, handsome young man in military uniform. The photo is draped in black cloth.

INT. Dining Room - Day

FATHER enters and sits heavily down with the mail. MOTHER enters silently from the kitchen as he holds up an envelope, clearly one he has been expecting. He grimly begins tearing it open. As she sits next to FATHER, she puts a NEWSPAPER down on the table.

EXTREME CLOSE-UP on NEWSPAPER minor headline, reading, "New Layoffs: Jobless Rate Highest in 12 Years". We hear sounds of the envelope being opened, the letter being unfolded.

TWO-SHOT of MOTHER and FATHER seen over the LETTER. Their faces, impossibly, fall even further. FATHER lets his hands fall to the table.

EXTREME CLOSE-UP of pile of mail on the table. The GOP flyer is clearly visible momentarily. The FATHER's hands fall in to frame holding the LETTER, which now fills the frame. It is a foreclosure notice.

TWO-SHOT of FATHER and MOTHER from the side, FATHER in foreground, out of focus. Both are silent for a moment as they stare bleakly through the letter. The focus shifts to the FATHER:

Father

(as if a slowly-dawning epiphany)

I know why all this is happening.

Mother

Why?

Father

(with rising resentment)

It's those damned gays getting married in California.

MOTHER, momentarily dumbfounded, eyes him quizzically.

CLOSE-UP of table. FATHER snatches the GOP flyer.

MEDIUM SHOT of couple as FATHER gets up, and goes to the kitchen. MOTHER remains seated, watching him with confused concern.

Narrator

In difficult times, even the most well-meaning, hardest-working people can be led astray. We look for changes to the familiar order, and eye them with suspicion. But the true foundation for our well-being is nothing new: Jobs. Housing. Health care. Energy. Financial security.

Obama

I see your problems, and with your help and permission, we'll solve them together. I'm Senator Barack Obama, and I'd appreciate your consideration.