Laying it on the line

Okay, I’ve mentioned my preferences for the democratic nomination a few times here, but never really gone into it. First of all, I’m really not a very politically minded person. I pay enough attention to get by (in a regular “non-voting” year), I know of evils done and wrongs committed, my passions were stirred after 9/11, but I’ll admit I don’t read the newspaper every day, and have made a commitment to not watch network news, but I do read things online and try to keep up to date with what’s happening…

And then, Obama. I have never in my life been inspired by one person like this. I read The Audacity of Hope, and actually had some. I’m reading Dreams From My Father right now and am blown away by the life this man has led, by the truths he tells of his own thoughts and actions (many of them negative, his honesty about his transgressions are refreshing) and by the things he has learned.

And you know what? Now I’m fearful. My caring so much about this has made me scared. I’m scared that either he won’t win, or if he does, he gets trounced once he gets in office. I’m scared maybe the hope that he’s inspiring in me is going to fail. I believe his “inexperience” is exactly what we need, that Hillary is more status-quo -- like how humans and mice are almost the same except for a few choice differences -- Hillary is no different than the fat-cat old men running the country now.

If I could say the things I wanted to say about Obama in the exact way I want to say them, it would look a lot like this essay by Michael Chabon in the Washington Post, here is an excerpt:

It is through our fear of falling prey to the calamity and misadventure from which the media promise faithlessly to protect us -- a fear manufactured and sold by the media themselves -- that we accept without question the media-borne canard (tainted, in my view, by a racism as insidious as any that hides behind the curtains of voting booths) that Barack Obama, a seasoned and successful 46-year-old husband and father of two, a man sweeping into the prime of his life with all his sails and flags unfurled, is too young and inexperienced for a job that demands vitality and flexibility and that, furthermore, has made nonsense of glittering resumes, laughingstocks of practiced old hands and, in a reverse of Popeye's old trick, ravenous alligators out of years of accumulated baggage.

Now, I’ll admit, it’s pretty flowery, it’s lovely and artistic, maybe not so “classicly” political. It is romantic, it is...poetic.

Some might say romance and poetry isn't enough. But this is what this man inspires in people, in me, and shouldn't our next president inspire exactly that? My own fear that it isn’t enough is a load. It is enough, it's more than enough, it’s exactly what we need right now. I found this quote last night from the New York Times:

Senator Clinton scored higher as a potential commander in chief than Senator Obama in every state surveyed except Georgia and his home state of Illinois.

But when asked which candidate would be most likely to unite the country, voters in every state but Tennessee selected Mr. Obama over Mrs. Clinton.

This, plus Michael Chabon's essay, explain it perfectly … fear is not enough to not elect him, and uniting this broken country is enough to elect him. If he unites this country, he will be THE commander in chief, that is where power lies.

Some may call my hope naive, or childish, or romantic, or not realistic. I have dreams of something greater, something more powerful, an inspiration I’ve never felt before, and if that makes me naïve, so be it. A candidate who makes me feel less than that is obviously not fit. If it is Hillary, I will stand behind her (I think), her policies are more aligned to me than McCain's, but for now...

Go. Obama. Go.

Oh...and if I could just go ahead and elect Michelle Obama? I'd just go ahead and do that too.