What This Election Means for Us As a Nation

The Sunday morning pundits are showing that Obama is ahead by as much as 10 percentage points nationally, but there is a troubling figure: among white voters McCain is ahead 50% versus 44% for Obama according to Gallup. Race remains a significant issue among certain segments of voters. The other issue that remains perplexing is the undecided vote. In most of the battleground states, undecided voters could change the direction of the win if they vote overwhelmingly for McCain last minute, if race is really the inhibiting factor for them, although pollsters insist that undecided voters usually vote in the same proportions as the existing divisions.

When I first started this blog just before Labor Day, I posted a piece called Why I am Voting for Barack Obama. Here were the reasons I gave, in short:

1. We need a president who understands the boundaries of the US Constitution and respects the Rule of Law.

2. We need a president who can restore our faith in the competency of government.

3. We need a president guided by a strong moral compass who can reclaim America's place as a beacon of opportunity and fairness.

These reasons remain important to me, even more so in the closing hours of this campaign. The nasty noise is the noise of business as usual in the Republican Party: John McCain and Sarah Palin calling Obama a socialist, someone leaking ICE documents that show Obama's aunt living in the country illegally, and surrogates trying to make this intellectual and earnest man with such discipline seem foreign and therefore untrustworthy. These tactics are the tactics of Lee Atwater, the smut peddler who created the strategy that electoral politics was about vanquishing the opponent, by labeling the opponent in a political campaign as the enemy. Lee Atwater died repentent, but his protegees remain active in the Republican Party.

Self government cannot operate under these rules. We have seen how dangerous and divisive these Atwater rules can be. Throughout this campaign, whether it was in the primaries battling Hillary Clinton or in the presidential election itself, Obama has never turned into a mocking, negative candidate. He has remained true to the belief that we have to come together, find common ground, and become engaged to solve the problems plaguing our nation, and our planet.

I am voting for Barack Hussein Obama because I want an America that is inclusive, that does not play bully in the world, that becomes a leader in resolving environmental and energy issues unlike the Bush policies that claimed they didn't exist. The result was a financial windfall for energy companies and American dollars pouring into the Middle East. I am voting for Barack Hussein Obama because I believe that politics is about negotiating differences and coming up with compromises. I am voting for Barack Hussein Obama because although he is young, his intellect, his capacity to organize a campaign, his ability to attract the best and the brightest as his advisers, and his steadiness throughout the 22 months of this campaign convince me that I want America to be under his direction.

It's about two things: will white voters pull the lever, punch the card, and touch the screen for an African American man and will new registered voters turn out to vote?

I can only hope that once in office Obama has the strength to maintain integrity; no one knows for sure what impact such power might have on any individual. To maintain a democracy here we need an engaged and informed electorate. Obama has inspired a new generation of young people to see themselves as part of the American community. We cannot win the hearts and minds of disillusioned men and women who have no hope, without living by example, making the United States once again the nation where people live "with liberty and justice for all."