Its Official, the 2008 U.S. Election is Over

Okay, not quite but pretty much.

For those that know me, you may see me as a liberal... you might even call me a Democrat but in any case, I do not prescribe to any Political Affiliation.

I grew up in a family that lived middle of the road. I have memories of when I would have considered my family poor but most of my memories are of middle class America. I remember my father teaching me about "Reaganomics". At the time that was often times referred to as "Trickle-down Economics". I remember the "Trickle-down Economics" lesson pretty vividly because my father explained it by posing as if he was peeing (i.e. pissing down on the poor).

I don't remember my parents ever siding with a particular party but I remember from my lesson in "Reaganomics" that Republicans stood for Rich, White America and the Democrat party was more of the political party of the people. At least at an early age that is what I felt I was learning anyway.

For most of my life I never thought about politics and still don't (much). Later in my life though, I found that my brother had become a staunch card-carrying Republican. He has autographed photographs of Republican Presidents hanging on his walls at home and is on the Republican Christmas and Birthday Card list. Because of his closeness to my father I have seen my father lose sight of the lessons he had taught me about "Reaganomics". Maybe he had just forgotten or maybe my brother had something to do with it.

Suffice to say, my family is filled with Republicans and you can't talk any sense with them. Like most Republicans, they are blind to the real issues. They do not find fault in President Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney. They feel that the war in Iraq was/is justified and that President Bush is doing what is right.

Like most Republicans, they scare me.

As I mentioned earlier, I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat and no I don't have a "Vote for Perot" or "Ron Paul" bumper sticker on my car.

I don't really know much about the candidates in the Primaries right now. I have been staying away from that... as far as I am concerned, it is all a bunch of mud slinging and not worth my time. Depending on where you get your news you may believe Barack Obama is a terrorist and a wife beater. It is that kind of FUD that really bothers me. It reminds me of the "your momma is so fat" slams we used in grammar school. But what scares me most is that people actually believe such garbage.

With that in mind though, I am not totally blind. I have heard some of Hilary Clinton's recent comments and that woman scares me.

Last night, I witnessed history in the making. I had seen articles flooding in all day through RSS Feeds I subscribe to about some speech by Barack Obama. I figured after I got the kids to bed I would check it out. All the posts I had been reading compared Obama to Lincoln and Kennedy. I felt this was something I owed to myself to hear for myself.

So, after the kids were in bed, I jaunted off to the living room and sat down to watch this Historical Speech on YouTube. It is quite a long speech and with the limits on YouTube that means that you will only find it in multiple parts.

I would say without a doubt that Barack Obama is the most intelligent and eloquent speaker this nation has seen in a long time. Of course, it is easy for anyone to be a better speaker than President Bush. If it wasn't for his daddy (and all his family members in high places that helped him to steal the election), I don't believe Bush would have ever been elected.

Before anyone labels me a "Bush Hater" let it be known that I voted for Bush on his first term... and I regretted it ever since.

But back to Obama's speech. This nation has not been whitness to a more eloquent or moving speech in many, many years. The courage Obama showed with giving this speech is amazing and for those that can't stand anything not "republican" let it be known that Barack Obama wrote this speech himself. And also let it be known that the Republican Party has applauded Obama for this speech as well. I am sure they are sitting back wishing they had a candidate on their side with such grace and such strength.

This nation needs powerful leaders that are not ashamed to admit their mistakes and who do not claim to know all the answers. Is Obama that person? I don't really know the answer to that question but I do know this, there isn't a single candidate that can top that speech not now and not for years to come.

White, Black, Jew, Jentile, Hispanic or Asian, it doesn't really matter. If a person cares about his or her country and can put that love, that concern, that devotion into a speech and they have the strength and courage to get up in front of our nation to proclaim such beliefs, that person deserves to be our President.

All our current President and the other candidates have proven is that they can twist the realities of "truths" and that they can spin believable lies. Our country is hurting, it is hurting bad. We need a President that cares, we need a President that is not afraid to reach out for help, admit when he is wrong and who works hard to do what is right.

Who will win the election, I don't have the answer any more than you, but I do know one thing and that is that the speech given on Tuesday, March 18, 2008 is something that will truly go down in history at a time when nothing good has come from our current administration that we as a nation can feel good about for our children to learn in History class in years to come.

For those that want to hear the speech or just read the transcription, you can follow the links below:

YouTube Videos

Barack Obama - March 18, 2008 - Speech - Part 1
Barack Obama - March 18, 2008 - Speech - Part 2
Barack Obama - March 18, 2008 - Speech - Part 3

The full text of this speech can be found in numerous locations on the Internet, here is a random link from a Google Search:

Barack Obama - March 18, 2008 - Speech - Transcript

You will find that I am really not a Political man... far from it but I was moved by this speech and felt that it should be shared. Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Independent or whatever, you owe it to yourself to be whitness to this speech. This is a piece of American History that will live on for a long time to come.