My case for Obama - I just turned 57 (born in "51), was 12 when JFK died, & was 18 in '69...

When Jack Kennedy was elected, I was unaware of the invigoration of youthful energy & enthusiasm that moved into the formerly boring Ike White House.

I liked Ike well enough but the White House, and politics in general, held no particular attraction for me (Go figure; at my age I was busy with solving the mysteries of life & trying to figure out how to hit a baseball).

As far as I knew, the president would always be a kindly but drab/bald grandfatherly figure (I later grew to gain a far more profound respect for the man who engineered the defeat of a genuine "Axis of Evil").

JFK made me pay attention to Washington politics. He was the first president born in the 20th Century. He had a young wife & young kids. I often wondered at what it might be like to be one of his kids (in retrospect, I'm sincerely glad I was spared this honor).

I have no delusions about JFK. John Kennedy was personally flawed, while nationally moral. He was cheating on his wife while he guided America through the Cuban Crisis (JFK rejected the Pentagon's efforts to invade Cuba. No one knew at the time that Cuba had tactical {plane mounted} nukes -- ready to strike if Cuba were invaded.)

Barack is honest to his family and country.

The American people have been patronized by the Bush administration & the Clinton campaign.

Obama seems to be the only player who has the courage to talk to his fellow citizens as equals. The idealistic kid and the jaded adult in me respond to his refreshing honesty.

Yeah -- I'm very cautiously optimistic; but after Bush, I'm surprised that I can be optimistic at all...

The beauty of it is that Obama has made that statement many times. Called himself an imperfect messenger, i.e., "our" bully pulpit.

Pretenders to perfection are unfit to lead.

time and time again I hear parents saying their children are leading the way in 08.

but our voices are right there next to him. We are participating, and he's into us participating.

If you don't see that, then there are no more words.

in need of a soloist.

Some of us like the young tenor with the voice of a generation, some of us like the older soprano whose voice some times cracks in the wrong spot but thinks she is still the young soprano who had a offer from the Met, and some of us like the old fart who has never been able to hold a note but thinks he is Caruso.

he speaks for me. because i got out and worked as hard as i could for him.

Few years he most likely will become so rich and not of our class. He will not know how we feel. I think it is time for this young man who thinks so good. Bush/Clinton should just go back to Ak. and Tex. We have had it with those two groups. Old thinkers.

Our gov has been poisoned with corporate $$$ for decades. Now the cooperations are global & there are no American values reflected in DC anymore.

The Bush admin has almost completely relegated our Constitution to an afterthought.

Our Constitution used to be the governing forethought of our actions.

Few years he most likely will become so rich and not of our class. He will not know how we feel. I think it is time for this young man who thinks so good. Bush/Clinton should just go back to Ak. and Tex. We have had it with those two groups. Old thinkers.

he will be ok. you gotta be real here.

own aim in mind for his life and his wife and children. I for some reason do nor see them glue them self to DC. and power in govt. Like Carter I see him move on to make the mind grew. Bush/Clinton type just stop with the power thing and that is DC power. I just do not know what you call these types like Clinton's vs people like Carter. One seems to be all inside the mind and the other is out side and both seem to feeds one ego. Funny as a kid in high school Chicago was the place I wanted to go. It seemed to odd for my father who did some business in the city.

And I recall EXACTLY where I was when I heard Bobby was killed, and the same when MLK was shot, and EVEN the day Malcolm X was shot. I spent a summer vaction in Florida watching the Watergate hearings in the hotel room.

Born 1957, Youngstown, OH

But I BELIEVE:

Barack is BOLD and HUMBLE. That's a good recipe for a leader!

I support him COMPLETELY! And I will attend the Inaguration!!!

amazing

when I think about it.

:cry:

...It's time to bolster the admittedly flawed man who gets it.

Even more importantly (as TragedyandHope expressed earlier) -- we need to be the ones we've been waiting for.

Barack is the willing spearhead of the activism of countless genuine patriots. It's our energy that drives this movement.

I saw him aver that during his campaign - he felt he had to make a conscious (and spiritual) effort to put his ego aside, while focusing on the needs of the nation at large.

It was an honest moment. I'm not surprised that it's not in the news cycle.

is us, his supporters. He has inspired such an incredible interest and the participation of so many like-minded people. Until now, many of us figured we had to take what the old politics dished out for us. I'm still (pleasantly) shocked that so many people have gotten behind Obama and his unconventional message. I really never would have imagined there were that many of us around.

After so many years of disbelief at how our country was being run, I had lost some faith in American voters. I know exactly what Michelle meant when she spoke of the pride in her country that was now burning brighter than ever.

Now that we know there are so many of us and we've seen what we can accomplish together, we won't have to just grin and bear it anymore, while our country is stolen out from under our noses.

We are the ones we've been waiting for.

"We are the ones we've been waiting for."

:kick:

There is a burden placed on Barack. He must come through for us.

Barack (as president) must initiate the wholesale changes needed to turn our nation around. It's a daunting task, but it needs to be done.

Hopefully, he can now re-focus on national issues...

Yes We Can

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNtFD6eCo7I

Use the force Luke.

...not mine.

Please read my OP.

If I'm wrong -- explain how.

Barack Obama has vision!

Barack hoped that we would see beyond the shiny metal objects (distractions).

Fortunately, his hope was founded in reality.

The constituency makes the man.

(Just thought I'd throw in an old school reference.)