Presidential Race
I can’t explain it very well, but I want Obama to be our next president. In the past presidential elections I was more voting against someone than voting for someone. But this time it is different. I am voting for Obama.
I am not under the illusion (or delusion) that Obama is perfect. And I used to actually think that our country wouldn’t suffer much if McCain were to win. I figured that we did technically survive Bush, so I started thinking that it really didn’t matter who was president. And to some extent I do still believe that, but not as much as before. I know think that Bush’s attitude has hurt our country. How people perceive us based on his attitude has hurt our country. That is how I think Obama can help. Obama has the kind of attitude that I think will change how "we" see ourselves and how people around the world will see us.
I understand the fear that Obama is great speeches and doesn’t really know enough to be the leader of our country. And, sure, some of the plans he has mentioned aren’t going to work or even be given a chance to work. But he wouldn’t be alone in running our country. We do have a system to ensure that it isn’t just one person calling all of the shots, and I trust that system (even if it’s appears to be the feared trinity of Obama, Pelosi, and Reid).
What Obama has that we really need is his positive outlook. It is that he voted against the Iraq War when few people did. It is that he tells parents that we can’t just leave it up to schools do raise our children, but we need to do our part including turning of TVs. It is that he has motivated many people who have felt disenfranchised in the past. And that brings me to…
This election is not about the race of the candidates, but I believe it is about the race(s) of many of the voters. I don’t think anyone should vote for Obama because he is black or because of "white guilt," but try to think about what his running means to a lot of people who are black, brown, and other groups that have not felt like a whole part of our country. I keep thinking about what it will mean to today’s kids that may never know what it is like to think a black person could be president, but probably not "in our lifetime." A great thing about Obama though is that he is all of us. Or at least it feels like he is. All of us, only better.
I will be going to the polls early in the morning and then I will just let it go and hope for the best. I will have hope no matter what. Almost nothing can’t be undone someday, but I will have faith that people will vote for change and not more of the same. And that people in our state and a few others will also remember to vote to include rather than exclude (by voting no on Prop 102).
