Ahhh, These are the days of Wine and Roses...when a Liberal can look to the future with pride and satisfaction. The economy may be down and retirement ever further away, but we now have HOPE for the future. Hope that sanity will once more return to our national politics; and it comes in the guise of a Joe Cool: confident and hopeful, a multicultural intellectual:

Seriously though, I AM looking forward to the new administration. Not because of some wide-eyed optimism of a left-leaning political junkie, but because our sudden national realization of the serious issues confronting us will be met by a president to-be who epitomizes everything that a 21st century President ought to be. With the anticipated victory of Obama, we will finally put to rest the culture wars of the 60’s. The multicultural, intellectual and centrist aspect of Obama is an opportunity for the US to rebuild it’s stature in the international community. His promise of restoring our international credibility will be vital for building the cooperation necessary in rebuilding a global financial system, fighting fundamentalism abroad, and advancing containment of states such as North Korea, Iran, and Russia. His refusal to to fully embrace a radical agenda of the Left will hopefully permit bipartisan negotiations in the discussions to come on the economy, health care, Social Security, Medicare, Energy, Global Warming, and National Security.

Obama’s belief in pay-as-you-go government will be familiar to both economic conservatives and Clintonites alike. His position on utilizing every form of energy production including clean-coal, nuclear, and limited offshore drilling, while pursuing a comprehensive alternative energy program is seen by many as reasonable and vital. Much more so than the simplistic drumbeat of “Drill, Baby, Drill”. His long standing belief that we need to extricate ourselves from Iraq, while seeking a solution for a worsening situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan is practical. And finally, Obama’s fiscal position of increasing taxes for those with incomes above $250k/yr is likewise seen as reasonable in this age of bank failures, bailouts and over-the-top AIG sales meetings.

Soon, our long national nightmare will be over. As a nation we have already put the jingoistic, and hawkish policies of the Bush administration behind us. With the election and inauguration of Barak Hussein Obama, a new more mature chapter in the history of the US will unfold. The racial, religious and culturally reactionary forces of our nation have been deposed. While Obama is human and will have his policy critics, his election none the less represents a sea-change in so many respects that it is hard not to be proud to be an American once more. 

Barack Obama’s candidacy in the 2008 Presidential election should come as no surprise to anyone who listened to his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. He was the only speaker from either party, including the presidential nominees themselves, who captivated his audience. Whether you support or oppose him, it cannot be denied that he has continued to captivate the nation since that night nearly three years ago.
Sen. Obama’s strengths far outweigh any concerns people may have about his perceived lack of experience. Throughout his career he has worked in a bi-partisan manner, finding the common ground between opponents windows backup software that enabled real work to be accomplished. He combines intelligence, experience, passion, and compassion in a way rarely seen in politics today. He has been in Washington long enough to understand the political establishment, but not long enough to become a part of it. The most important thing Sen. Obama brings to this election is the one thing that has been missing from our national dialogue for so long. He dares us to dream big dreams for America. I come from a generation that can only vaguely remember the Kennedy years, if at all. We grew up under Watergate and malaise and Reaganomics adult hosting. No one has ever challenged us to, in the words of John F. Kennedy, “ask what we can do for our country.” We want a leader who will inspire us to be better as people and as Americans. Barack Obama is that leader.