First and foremost I would like to wish everyone a very happy 4th of July! I have been visiting Daily Kos now since the beginning of this year and never wrote a diary; this is my first. I've contemplated over what to write or not write for some time and settled on the following:
I am a recent college graduate and have always been fascinated with American politics even as a little boy in grade school. I was honored to have cast my first ballot for President in 2004 for John Kerry. Now I get to do that enthusiastically for Barack Obama. I have had to pay my own way for college with student loans and working two jobs. I am the first in my family to obtain a college degree. My family comes from a blue-collar (working-class) family here in Michigan. My father recently retired after working 30 years for General Motors. The retirement was not necessarily his choice, but with the dwindling benefits he had no choice. My older brother, too, works for General Motors and was lucky enough to get that job despite the cutbacks and labor strikes. My mother, on the other hand, works for Gleaner Life Insurance and has been employed there for many many years. I also have two sisters, both of which just graduated from high school. Let me tell you, the economy here in Michigan is terrible. We have the highest unemployment rate in the country at roughly 8.5%. The national average is 5.5%. With gas prices soaring past 4 dollars a gallon the Auto Industry is taking a huge blow. I do not fault our governor, Jennifer Granholm. I fault George W. Bush and John McCain.
So, why am I telling you this? I am telling you this because we MUST elect Barack Obama President of the United States. It’s been a struggle to convince my own family to throw their support behind him. My mother and father were originally John Edwards supporters. My brother was a die-hard Hillary Clinton supporter. My two sisters could care less about politics. All of which were not planning on voting since their candidate of choice did not win the nomination. But as Obama has stated, ""We can’t wait to fix our schools, we can’t wait to fix our health care system, we can’t wait to bring back good jobs back to Michigan." He’s right. We can’t wait! John McCain offers little to nothing to help Michigan. After all he’s the guy who told us to get over the fact that jobs aren’t coming back. That’s not who Michiganders want as President. We want a guy who does something, not someone who tells us to get over it.
After much debate with my family on why they should support Obama, I am happy to tell you all today that all of them throw 110% of their support behind him. How did this come about? You see, they always supported Obama, they just didn’t know it at the time. After all how can you not support the guy who wants to end tax breaks for those who ship jobs overseas, increase environmental and labor standards, repair our infrastructure, make college more accessible, give tax breaks to working families, and get us the hell out of Iraq, etc.. It’s disgustingly awesome to see how into this election cycle they are, even my sisters. That’s right, the two who could care less about politics and would rather watch America’s Got Talent. They are so into it I took them down to the county clerk to get them registered to vote. My dad calls my cell phone whenever Obama is on the news. My mom bought his books. My brother donated 50 dollars to him and is convincing his fellow Clinton supporters to back Obama. My friends have jumped on board as well, even some of my republican friends. This is real. It’s happening. Obama will take Michigan handsomely come the fall.