"Barack is the new black"

Jenn brought something home with her from Iceland especially for me: a free newspaper with Barack Obama on the cover with the headline above splashed above... there was a tagline at the bottom saying:

Barack Obama's call for change resonates as deeply in Europe as it does in the U.S. THe new leader of the free world is seen as a unifying symbol, capable of rebuilding the bridges that the Bush administration burned down in the last eight years. Hope has been restored.

Well, I was intrigued. I got home tonight and started reading the article, written by an American, no doubt. He starts the article by relating American literature to America's place in the world. It, like American literature, is described by the author like this:

To be American as long as I've been alive has been to be at the top of a fading, maniacal empire, and to have been hyper-conscious of it.

My husband says all the time that one of his number one reasons for supporting Obama is to help us regain respect in the world, and I tend to agree. I remember going to Paris and Amsterdam in 2004 (or 2005?) to visit a friend studying abroad and I was taken back by all the American-haters, more specifically, Bush-haters, out there.
I don't really have much else to say about the article... I don't think one man can truly "save" us and do as much as he's being built up to be able to do, but wouldn't it be nice?

I was 20 feet away from (hopefully) the next president!

I am SO glad that Jeff and I have gotten involved in the local Obama effort this week. First we went canvassing on Wednesday, then for 1/2 of today, and it really paid off-- we got to get into the Obama rally tonight in Springfield ahead of most everyone else and be freakin' 20 feet from the stage! It was AMAZING watching the whole Obama family interact, and then hear Obama talk for quite a while about the issues.



He started off by talking about how Dick Cheney endorsed Mcain today by taking to the campaign trail-- sorta bashing that whole deal to bring home the point that there will be "four more years of the same..." blah blah blah-- I sort of care (because i don't think the republican's view of trickling down money works), but most of all I care about having a strong leader in the white house who talks a lot about bringing people together. He got to that point at the very end, after he gave the same speech I heard on NPR the other morning (its a really good one) going over the issues and what he plans to do. (He throws in a good line about cutting taxes for 99.9% of all plumbers, btw.) But then he got to the good stuff-- talking about how good Americans are, and how its time for us to ban together to be good to each other, serve one another, get involved in community service, be good parents, etc. etc. That is one thing I respect about the Republican base-- their sense of values and how important it is to emphasize that families take responsibilty to do good because the government cannot do it alone.-- and I am so happy to support a candidate that believes in putting responsibility and accountability in the white house as well as in the family home.

Anyway, enough preaching, it was awesome. It feels historical. Three days before the election I got to see him. Close.

Election...

OMG, I can't stand it anymore-- as Wyatt on the John Stewart Show said last night-- can we please just get this over with already!?! I am SOOO ready to know who is going to be our next president, and am SO nervous it won't be Obama. OH PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE!!!!
Jeff and I are going door to door tonight to volunteer for the campaign.