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Candace
Talmadge
Read Candace's bio and previous columns
November 3, 2008
My 10th
Presidential Election, and Thanks to Obama, My First Vote With a Happy
Heart
Tomorrow I go to the
polls in the 10th presidential election since I came of
voting age. For the first time, I cast my ballot for the top of the
ticket with a happy heart—for a candidate instead of against one.
That candidate is Sen.
Barack Obama.
Against all odds, this
man from Illinois cinched the Democratic presidential nomination, riding
high on a felicitous combination of great timing and personal qualities
that include keen intelligence, perseverance and outstanding management
skills leavened with a dash of charisma.
If Obama wins this
election, I don’t expect to agree with his every policy decision. He’s
more of a centrist on certain issues than I. But every choice that he
has made to date in his campaign shows me repeatedly that whatever he
opts to do, a lot of rational and insightful analysis, sound advice from
varying quarters, and a lifelong sense of justice and fair play go into
his thinking.
I can live with that,
and I want my beloved country to live with that, too.
There is so much that
could scare us this election season: Yo-yo stock prices, imploding home
values, job losses in a sinking economy, soaring costs for just the
basics. Add to that: U.S. troops tangled in two terrible wars and those
who attacked us seven years ago still on the loose thanks to an
administration that either could not or would not bring them to justice.
Then there are all the other violent hot spots around the world, not to
mention a climate in unpredictable flux.
It’s enough to make a
sensible person question the sanity of anyone who wants to tackle this
mess. Yet Obama not only wants to be president, he has new ideas about
how to fix problems and reassures us that nothing is unsolvable if we
come together and lay down some thought and some elbow grease.
He also fills us with
further confidence by his own unflappable and optimistic demeanor. The
excrement has already hit the fan, and it was Obama, not his opponent,
who exhibited calm and rational deliberation in the face of crisis.
Imagine that – a
presidential candidate who inspires us instead of scaring us out of our
wits. No wonder Obama generates such enthusiasm among the public –
especially among the young adults who will be voting for the first time.
A vote for Obama is a
vote for the future of this country in the most literal and personal
sense. He doesn’t look like every other past or current occupant of the
White House, and that’s fine by me. If that saying about how any
American child can grow up to become president has any real meaning,
then it is way past time for a little racial diversity in the
Oval Office. And yes, eventually we’ll elect one or more women
president. Maybe, when we get really wild and crazy, a gay or an atheist
will gain our nation’s highest office. It could happen.
White males have been
the exclusive holders of top power in this country for far too long, and
a fine mess they have made of it, too. Perhaps a person with a far
different life experience can help us find our way out of the
wilderness.
It’s worth my vote,
because time is running out, and this nation cannot endure an
alternative that amounts to nothing but more of the same – or even
worse.
© 2008
North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.
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