barack the vote

I watched Barack Obama's "infomercial" this evening. And I understand that the camera shots, the music, the montages, etc. are designed to portray Obama in the best possible light. I also didn't need this thirty minute program to "sell" me on Obama versus McCain. That was never a consideration. My only other option was to go for the Green Party candidate, Cynthia McKinney.

What it did do was to underline, once again, the vast difference in appeal of Obama versus McCain. On the one hand, we have someone calling us to, as Abraham Lincoln put it, "the better angels of our nature." On the other hand, we have a person desperately trying to scare us into voting for him. Hope versus fear.

But even that isn't the determining factor. I won't claim to agree with everything Obama is about. No one is flawless. (What political figure is?) But I don't mind saying that I see Barack Obama as someone who comes along maybe once in a generation. He's someone who has the potential to inspire and to lead us. What an amazing concept--to inspire and to lead!