Some of You Knew This Was Coming...

It was inevitable. If I’m going to have a blog, certainly I would use it to promote him, right? Yep. So, let’s just get this out in the open-- I support Barack Obama for president. I think he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. Maybe even since the invention of democracy.

Okay, so that’s a bit hyperbolic, but seriously, this guy is going to be great for the nation.

What brings me to make such pronouncements, you ask? Well, let’s start with a little about my history, politically speaking.

The first “real” campaign I ever worked on was back in 1986. Steve Swendiman ran against Wally Herger for the local congressional seat. I got involved in Swendiman’s campaign because his wife was my high school counselor. I found politics fascinating. After the first day of door knocking, I was hooked. I realized that encouraging others to vote, and inspiring others to find their voice was what democracy was all about.

In the early 1990’s, I began working as a community advocate and organizer, fueled by the environmental issues which were closing down mills all over northern California. It was timber country. I found myself evolving into a Good Young Republican. I was a dragon slayer of various sorts-- wacko environmentalists, inept land management agencies, public apathy. It wasn’t that I really enjoyed working in divided communities, it’s just that there was really no other choice at the time.

That was until I became a part of a community collaborative in Quincy, California, that later became a model for consensus building and community-based solutions. What I learned then was a painful lesson. As I went to all my entrenched Republican friends and proclaimed the power and goodness of working with the “enemy”, I was ridiculed. Thus, I became a Disenfranchised Republican. That was fine by me, though, because what I had learned while working across socio/political/economic boundaries was that the best solutions are those that are crafted by those who will be impacted by the outcomes. It gives a sense of ownership, and a stake in the process.

These are the things that I see in Obama. He’s worked at the community level. He knows what’s at stake. He knows how to achieve the outcomes in a way that gives the broadest possible ownership in the solution and its outcome.

I hear some say that Obama is inexperienced. I argue that the very constitution of his campaign says otherwise. He has the broadest support of “every man” that any presidential contender has ever held. He is going to change the landscape. He doesn’t need “public financing” of his campaign as defined by the federal government. He already owns it as the product of 1.8 million supporters who believe in what he is doing.

I am excited at the prospect of his leadership. What he knows better than any leader in recent time is that America is a great place, and that its potential is only hindered by our ability to believe in ourselves and act upon those beliefs for the common good.

I’ll be writing more about Barack Obama as time goes on. Jon, the kids and I are making preparations to see Obama inaugurated. We will be spending about a week in Washington, DC, taking in the sights and witnessing history first-hand at the swearing in of the greatest leader of my generation.