We will remember that there is something happening in America, that we are not as divided as our politics suggest, that we are one people, that we are one nation, and together we will begin the next chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea; Yes we can.

Yes, I know it’s hyperbole. There are some that scoff at a music video carrying a campaign message. I know that many people that I respect have called Obama’s campaign a cult of personality. All that being said, the more I read about his platform, and the more I listen to him speak, the more I would prefer this man to anyone else that’s currently in the running.

Hope is not a plan. I know this. After the past six and a half years since 9/11, hope sounds very good. Hope sounds much better than the “realists” and the “pragmatists” who want me to fall back in line every time “GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR” or “ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTAL JIHADISTS” are thrown in my face. Yes, I still believe they’re a threat. Based on what I’ve seen however, I don’t believe we’ve done enough to protect OUR country from those threats. I’m not convinced that stabilizing Iraq and/or Afghanistan is more important than stabilizing US. Hope is not a plan, but striking out in fear is not a strategy.

I haven’t decided who I’m voting for yet. There’s too much time between now and then. If you had told me six months ago that I’d be considering a Democrat who is for universal health care and a scheduled pull out of Iraq to get the Iraqis to start pulling their own crap together, I would have laughed at you. I’m not laughing, I’m thinking.