Congratulations, President Obama


From Anonymous:

From your blog on 6-10 which read "In my opinion (yes, I‘m allowed to have one, T), Mr. Obama is the leader we‘ve all been waiting for and--thanks to God--has arrived just in time to lead our country into the Global Age! Everybody get on board!!" to now --what changed your opinion so drastically?

Thank you, Anonymous! I would love nothing more than to bloviate on about what seems to be my drastic change in opinion about the election!

Since my return to North America nearly eight months ago, I have been captivated by Mr. Obama’s charm, charisma, and intelligent rhetoric. From the first time I watched him speak, I knew we had the leader we needed to lead us into the global age.

My enthusiasm was quickly challenged by the cynics in my midst; He’ll just be assassinated, they said, He’s just another politician, nothing’s going to change. To some extent they were right; Mr. Obama is in the unenviable position of having to play a dirty game, and no one plays this game without getting dirty. In politics as in everything else, you can’t please all the people all the time.

Yes, Mr. Obama is a politician, but he is also the face of our future and his election to the Presidency will completely transform our image abroad, reaffirming our reputation as the land of hope and opportunity. After eight years of the racist, arrogant, and exploitative policies of the Bush Administration, our friends abroad have rightly lost faith in the American dream. Nobody imagined we Americans could elect a black man to lead us. And that is why America is so great, because we WILL elect a black man to lead us!!

The fact that my home state of California has always gone Democratic means there is no question that Mr. Obama already has our electoral votes. That gives me the luxury of using my vote in a more symbolic way; to protest the exclusivity of two-party politics. I have, in fact, never voted for any Democrat or Republican in any election as a general protest against our unbalanced electoral system. Were there any question whatsoever about the outcome in California, I would have to reconsider my "throwaway" protest vote. But there isn’t, so I don’t.

So, dear Anonymous, despite what it looks like, my opinion has not actually changed at all. Mr. Obama, the new face of America, has arrived just in time to salvage what’s left of our dignity, our dreams, and our economy. I knew then as I know now that Mr. Obama is our next president. It’s already done, folks, so everybody just get on the bus!!

All my love,
LMA