Inspired By A Presidential Candidate for the First Time in My Life

It is no secret that I have been a long-time supporter of Barack Obama. I am inspired by his eloquence, and his unexpected commitment to doing things differently (the first time I went to a volunteer meeting the first thing they told us is NEVER say anything bad about the other candidates....only good things about Barack).

However, even I was amazed and impressed by his speech yesterday. There will always be those who will say this is not enough, or it was a political ploy. However, he wrote this speech by himself, and clearly spoke from his heart - a rarity in American politics. It is my hope that America is ready for a person who actually speaks in the nuance that is the reality of the world, as opposed to being overly concerned by the sound bite do or die.

I am for the first time in my life truly inspired to step beyond myself and commit to a cause on a National level. Those who know me out there know I am quite a cynic, so may be surprised to learn that I plan on going up to Pennsylvania and dedicating whatever time the Obama campaign needs to win the primary there. I am proud to support a candidate who supports a majority of my policy priorities...and who steps beyond the traditional nasty poll-driven politics and says what he thinks and believes.

I suggest everyone listen to the speech in its entirety. Though it is 40 minutes long, no speech on race issues in America should be any shorter, and I believe this one is truly a landmark in American politics.

Back in DC

Well, I didn't blog over the last couple of weeks, despite promises to various people to the contrary. Sorry about that folks. Been various reasons for not doing so, but needless to say I'm back in DC, and for those of you who are wondering I had a productive trip to China, I am happy to be home, and am now at home suffering from the Martian Death Flu (or so I am dubbing it).

For those of you who attended Carleton College from 94-98, you might remember the great Martian Death Flu epidemic of 1997...it has apparently returned this year (another friend in Minnesota recently recovered after a bout of this year's version). I am progressing and on the mend, after a brutal few days, which is a good thing, because I have a busy 2nd half of the week planned.