Barack or Blessed

I filed my federal income tax return today since I needed the information to file my FAFSA for school. When I was finished with that I noticed on my google homepage that Barack Obama formally announced his bid for the Democratic nomination for the presidency. I decided that I didn't pay close enough attention to Obama's speech at the 2004 Democratic National Committee, and thanks to YouTube, I could watch it again today. It is in two parts - part 1 and part 2. I was moved to tears. I NEED to read this man's book. He tells of his parent's story - a young African man on scholarship in the US and a young white woman from Kansas. The way this man speaks ... I cannot relay it in words. Even if you don't like his politics, listen to part 1 of the speech - he speaks of America. The chills that went through my body just listening to him speak of my country made me proud. Proud of this country and its potential. We live in a wonderful and promised land.

"Now don't get me wrong. The people I meet in small towns and big cities, in diners and office parks, they don't expect government to solve all their problems. They know they have to work hard to get ahead and they want to.

Go into the collar counties around Chicago, and people will tell you they don't want their tax money wasted by a welfare agency or the Pentagon.

Go into any inner city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that government alone can't teach our kids to learn. They know that parents have to parent, that children can't achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white. They know those things.

People don't expect government to solve all their problems. But they sense, deep in their bones, that with just a change in priorities, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life, and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all. They know we can do better. And they want that choice."

Barack Obama is a man that speaks through the applause. Speaks with conviction. I don't get that slimy politician feeling when I see him or hear him speak. He gives me hope.

It's the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta; the hope of a mill worker's son who dares to defy the odds; the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too.

Now I don't know if he will win the support of the Democratic National Committee for the 2008 election ... I don't know that he could win the presidency even if he was backed by the DNC. But part of me hopes he could. But if not, he's young. He may still have time for 2012 and maybe that will be better. Maybe that is when this nation "will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."