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Preparing to vote in my first presidential election in 1968, I was confronted with a dreadful choice: Richard Nixon, the Republican candidate, and Hubert Humphrey, the Democrat. I’d never trusted Nixon any further than I could throw him (an intuitive insight borne out by his later high crimes and misdemeanors in the White House). And President Lyndon Johnson had Humphrey’s pecker in his pocket (as Johnson himself so eloquently expressed it), which inextricably linked the Hump to continuation of the Vietnam War with its attendant death and destruction.I would have gladly voted for either of the two anti-war candidates in the Democratic race had they been on the ballot in November. But Gene McCarthy, senator from Minnesota who had come close to beating Johnson in the New Hampshire primary, was cast aside by the party bosses at the Democratic Convention. And Bobby Kennedy, the senator from New York and brother of President John Kennedy, was gunned down just as he’d won the California primary. Absent these choices, I cast my vote for Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther leader and author of Soul on Ice, who was running at the head of the Peace and Freedom Party ticket that garnered just over 100,000 votes nationwide.
Every four years in the four decades hence, I have generally held my nose and voted for the lesser of two evils. Let me hereby declare that this is the year that dispirited practice stops. In 2008, given the choices of John McCain, the candidate of the 1950s, Hillary Clinton, the candidate of the 1990s and Barack Obama, the candidate of the here and now, I intend to do everything in my power to ensure that I have the opportunity to vote for Obama for president on November 4.
Why Obama? Though my wife Shonnie and I were initially supporters of John Edwards for the Democratic presidential nomination, we watched Obama’s victory speech after the Iowa caucuses. And as we did so, something inside of me was touched so deeply that I sat fully engaged, tears streaming down my face, joy in my heart. Buoyed by his inclusive, inspiring message, Shonnie and I both joined his grassroots campaign here in Asheville, and we became two of the more than one million supporters who have contributed money to his campaign.
I believe that a transformational leader is essential if we are to successfully move into a new era and actually confront the challenges of a sinking economy, the atrocious war in Iraq, the dangers of global warming, shrinking oil supplies, affordable healthcare for all and numerous other pressing issues. I believe we need a president who is willing to forsake the “same old same old” and embrace progressive, innovative ways to genuinely change the way things are done in Washington so that our elected representatives serve all of us, not merely the ruling elite. I believe that our next president must be someone who can touch the deep yearning for a more just, compassionate and sustainable society that is in each of us. I believe that our national leader must have the authenticity, integrity, moral authority and willingness to call each of us into accountability and inspire us to take action on our own behalf and on behalf of our brothers and sisters. I believe Barack Obama is the right person at the right time to be our next president. And there are millions of other Americans like me who support his candidacy with spirited commitment and deep passion.
Now I know that there are some out there who don’t “get” Obama: those who ignorantly accept the malicious misinformation about his competence, attributes, experience and background being propagated by Clinton, McCain and others; those whose antiquated belief systems would never let them vote for a candidate of color; those misguided ideologues who equate members of the Democratic party with Satan and socialism; those of the mainstream media who insist on portraying this campaign as just another traditional horse race; those professional politicians who cling to the obsolete top-down leadership paradigm; those members of the left who dispute Obama’s ideological purity; those more-spiritually-evolved-than-thou beings who won’t defile themselves by engaging in the worldliness of politics; those who have sunk so far down into hopelessness and cynicism that supporting him would mean giving up victimhood dramas and actually taking action.
But there are enough of us who have faith that things can be different. And there are enough of us who are willing to put our butts on the line to make it so. A huge coalition of Democrats, Republicans and Independents of various ages, ethnic groups and socio-economic backgrounds have joined together as citizen-activists to take back our government from the special interests, to insist on servant leadership from our elected officials, to lend a hand to those among us who are challenged to support themselves, to reclaim our proper place in the community of nations.
As Shonnie recently wrote on her blog, Obama “is a leader akin to Gandhi, King, Mandela, Kennedy.” His time has come. Our time has come. Together we can transform this nation into that which our Fathers envisioned, so that “of the people, by the people, for the people” is not just a slogan, but a reality for every last one of us.
Finally, a word to Democratic super delegates and elders of the Democratic Party: Given Hillary Clinton’s recent scorched earth tactics and her derision of Obama’s inspirational message and those of us who are evoked by it, under no circumstances will I vote for her. My decision on this is irrevocable. If I am faced with a choice between McCain and Clinton (McCain-Lite) on November 4, I will be scouring the ballot once again for a third party candidate for whom I can vote in good conscience.
Find more information on Barack Obama
For information on Barack Obama’s 20 years of public service and his accomplishments during that time, visit the following websites:
• Barack Obama, barackobama.com
• Know the Facts, factcheck.barackobama.com
• PolitiFact.com, politifact.com/truth-o-meter
• Snopes.com, snopes.com/politics/obama/obama.asp
Express your views to the Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee, democrats.org/page/s/contact
