Barack Obama - Is he the One?

I haven't posted for a while. I think maybe it is time to refocus this blog. Since we are in an election season and it is a very exciting election, I have decided to write about that.

I am a recent convert to Barack Obama. I supported Hillary since she announced her campaign for President. Until the week of Super Tuesday, I thought that Hillary would make the best President.

Here is why I changed my mind.

1. Barack Obama has the potential to be a once-in-a-generation leader. For years I have said that the thing we need (and by we, I mean not just the US, but the world) is a leader like Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr. Alternatively, we need a common enemy - martians invading from outer space would serve as long as we can beat them off - to unite the world so we can put our differences into perspective and come together for the common good. While Obama may turn out to be a typical politician, he has the potential - for the first time in my adult life - to be the leader who can bring us together for a brighter future.
   
2. We need a change from politics as usual. While I have long been a progressive when it comes to politics, I have become disillusioned with the constant bickering between the parties. Instead of really looking in depth at problems and working out solutions, our political leaders always seem to play the "Gotcha" game. And the news media plays along. Every statement is twisted and tortured to try to get the other side. I used to think it was just the Republican Sound Machine, but what I have seen is that the Democrats play the same game. Bill and Hillary are experts at it. Barack is trying (in vain, it sometimes seems) to rise above that and use his national prominence to inspire and to try to bring people together. He may not achieve it, but I have some hope that a campaign between John McCain - who though very tough, appears to me to be a gentleman - and Barack Obama, may be more a campaign of ideas and differences than "Gotchas".

If for no other reason than the future of our children, we should give Barack Obama a chance to change politics and, possibly, to change the way we view our country and our world.

Here's to Hope.