I’ve tried really, really hard to not jump the gun in this 2008 election season and support one candidate or another, not so much because I want to see where the cards fall, but because it’s been more important to me to determine a candidate’s efficacy based off his or her prior words as contrast to their current actions, and prior words are always cumulating, as time moves inexorably forward. Hillary has said some marvelous things in the past, as well as in the present. McCain used to be a beacon of moderation in the Senate in the past. And Obama…

Obama spoke at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. I remember thinking to myself, “This man could be the next President. I wish he were running at not the easily-forgettable Kerry.”

The pundits, the pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too. We worship an “awesome God” in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and yes, we’ve got some gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

It was that quote that I was reminded of today. Reading it again, then watching pieces of the address at Youtube, brought tears to my eyes. He wasn’t speaking about Kerry and Edwards in 2004, he was speaking about himself in 2008. And I’ve been saying this since the beginning of this exceedingly long campaign season: If Obama’s handlers would just let him loose, there’d be no stopping him, as evidenced by this speech in 2004.

It’s so rare to think of the candidate with a message of hope actually doing well nationally. And I just might take a chance and hope along with him. When it comes down to it, I’ll vote for Obama, instead of against McCain.