I thought I was done with the democratic party years ago. I was really angry at how Dean got railroaded in 2004 and almost walked off permanently then but I gave in and voted for Kerry because I couldn't stand the thought of leaving the vulnerable segments of our society to Bush when they didn't have any lifeboats.
During the last 4 years I kept an eye on politics but wasn't going to support any of them because I thought most of them were pretty dishonest, too disconnected from us and didn't care. When Obama first entered the race, I didn't pay much attention to him. I dismissed him as just another liar, even during the debates, and started shopping around for a third party candidate.
I don't really know when it happened but somewhere between then and now, someone slipped something in my latte because I stopped listening to the news or reading the internet and started listening to him, unfiltered.
I'm antiwar and pro-labor. I have nothing against capitalism (given the choice, I'd choose another system) but I have everything against war and exploitation. I think our foreign policy is very White-privilege racist and elitist just like the foreign policy of the Europeans who looted most of Africa, South America and Caribbean. We're the new kids at the game but we've been the most ruthless in the modern world, just as our slavery was the most cruel. In Obama, I see a chance for real change because at least he sees the world through different eyes. He also sees America through different eyes, with a compassion and empathy most politicians have to fake.
If you literally compare his positions to Hillary's they're not that different, they're both at the same intersection BUT they're not facing the same direction. I also think this ship is sinking and we need a different kind of captain at the helm- Obama's had the smarts to surround himself with people as brilliant as he is and who have a better track record of doing the right thing (or at least trying to).
The kind of world those 20th century politicians created isn't the one I want to pass on to our children. I was looking for a 21st century politician, Obama said "Si se Puede" which was the revolutionary cry of Cesar Chavez and I started to believe again.
Cesar Chavez and Robert Kennedy. His motto in life was "Si se puede" ("it can be done")