All over the blogs you can read first hand accounts of people of all ages who go to Obama rallies and come away converted. It is his way with words, his message of hope, his energy that inspires them. Sometimes he talks specifics, but mostly he talks about hope and changing America.
His detractors and political cynics say this is no reason to vote for a presidential candidate. Hillary has more experience, they say, or McCain will be a better commander in chief. Obama may talk pretty, but that isn't good enough. A few years ago, I might have agreed with them. I am a highly pragmatic person who likes to think I vote more with my head than with my heart.
But this election is different. And that isn't to say Obama doesn't have well-thought out policies, or that he lacks experience. He has both good ideas and good experience. So does Hillary. But Obama, with his charisma, and his phenomenal ability to generate hope for the future, has so much more.
What Republicans and media pundits don't realize - and this is why Obamamania has surprised them - is that Democrats have been so depressed, so despondent, so angry, so hopeless since the late nineties, that they were ready for a message and a candidate like this.
At first, Hillary seemed like she would be a good general election candidate. She would bring to the race intelligence, experience, and memories of the prosperous nineties when her husband was president. And besides that, she would offer women a chance to vote for the first time for one of their own. And with the corruption and incompentence of this Republican administration, a Hillary presidency seemed inevitable.
But many Democrats weren't crazy about her, and some really disliked her. Some of that dislike is irrational, to be sure, but some of it is quite understandable. Others simply didn't want the Clintons back in the White House. They still remember defending them throughout the nineties when the Republicans were hunting them, only to have Bill finally let them down and pave the way for a Republican victory in 2000. Democrats have learned that, no matter how talented and capable, the Clintons are ultimately unpredictable when it comes to their personal lives. And that unpredictability has hurt us all.
So after years of fending off Republican attacks, being betrayed by President Clinton, and then enduring nearly eight years under the disastrous administration of an incompetent and dangerous Republican president, Democrats have been yearning for something more than a good policy wonk or a candidate of a different gender. Obama is offering something more, and the more Democrats, Independents and even some Republicans are getting to know Obama, and hearing his message, they are responding with an enthusiasm that has surprised many, but does not surprise me.
I have been one of those despondent Democrats. Obama brings me out of that dark place. Obama brings us all out of that dark place. This year, I will be proud to vote with both head and heart.
