Day of Days
After 22 months, today is the day Americans elect a new President and no matter what happens, the results will be historic. We’ll either have the first woman Vice President or we’ll have the first African American President. Obviously I’m rooting for the latter, and although I voted early there is a part of me that would have liked to go to the polls today in my deep, royal blue shirt and voted for Barack.
All that is past me now and thankfully the campaign commercials (on both sides) are at an end. A quick check of Quicken reveals that I gave a total of $150 to Obama’s campaign split among 5 seperate donations. I’ve never given that much to a political candidate before, ever. I’ve written over 40 blog posts that either are directly about, or mention Barack Obama since July of 2007. I think it’s fair to say I’m invested in an Obama victory. And although I was rooting for Kerry in 2004, this time it’s different.
Back then I was really voting against George W. Bush. When I voted this past week, I was voting for Obama. I was voting for change, hope and a new direction for this country. I voted to gain back the respect of the world which this country has lost these last eight years. I voted to support the rule of law and against cronyism. I wasn’t voting for abortion, I voted for a woman’s right to choose. I voted for renewable energy and wrangling in the ballooning cost of healthcare. I voted for Obama to support net neutrality and to make sure the Supreme Court doesn’t slip further to the right than it already has. I voted against torturing prisoners (even the ones the CIA holds), taking our eye off the ball in Iraq and most of all, I voted for man whom I believe will actually find and kill Bin Laden.
When all the polls close and the votes are counted, I believe that America will have made the right choice. People are craving to make a difference this time around. The lines will be long and problems will surface but in the end, there can be only one. Today will be remembered as the day when we all looked fear and division in the eye and instead chose hope. I can’t wait.
That’s an interesting distinction that I think has been missed in most political commentary in recent months; people are voting FOR Obama, not AGAINST McCain. Good work, Ged. We’re rooting for Obama on this side of the Atlantic, too. Fingers crossed America does make the right choice.
I have every respect for your point of view. I appreciate the way you eloquently express yourself. But the kicker for me is the way you so cleverly worked in a Highlander reference in your last paragraph.
I voted. I went early, thought carefully and felt great as I walked out of the polling station into the misty morning stillness. I love our democracy.
Now, along with everyone else I’ll be watching anxiously all day to see how this turns out for our country.
🙂
Jiffy
This is such an exciting day! And I think this will be a really, really long night for me.