My love affair with Barack Obama started last April, when my son convinced me to drive across the state of Montana to hear him speak. I never got close enough to touch him — but he certainly touched me.
I am editor of a small weekly newspaper in a very conservative corner of the state. But what I saw and heard prompted me to "come out" from my closet. The following is the column I wrote — and published — when I returned.
LIKE IT IS April 10, 2008
Usually I avoid politics like the plague. Although I hold political views, I try to keep them out of the pages of this newspaper. I believe people have a right to be informed — it is not my job to tell them what to believe.
But this weekend, I started on a journey of hope for our nation's future.
It's a hope that I have lived without for nearly eight years. I have watched our leaders claim powers that I believe should not be theirs. I have seen them claim that torture is necessary to keep this nation safe, and hold people in overseas prisons without charging them. I have seen the president ignore, diminish and undermine the power of the legislature, and build up the power of the presidency.
I have seen 4,000 young men and women die in a war that, while "making progress," has not made us any safer, and I see little hope of a stable Iraq any time soon. Gas prices have more than doubled in the last four years, and our economy is in the toilet.
So where is this hope?
Last weekend, my 17-year-old son, who will vote in his first presidential election this November, asked me to take him to Missoula to hear presidential candidate Barack Obama speak. Initially I said no — a sixteen-hour round trip didn't sound like much fun to me. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I needed to give my son this opportunity.
When I was a student in Washington, I got a chance to hear Ronald Reagan speak. It was an experience I remember vividly to this day.
So last Saturday, my son and I sat in the University of Montana's Adams Center, two of 8,000 people who came to hear with the "skinny black man with big ears and a funny name" (which is how Obama describes himself) had to say. And what he had to say lifted me up, and reminded me of what I believe this country is all about.
The America I believe in is a place where people care about each other, where people help each other. It is a place where everybody can afford proper medical care, and has access to a decent education without taking on a crippling debt load.
More important, it is a place where the Constitution is the law of the land — not a document that is followed when it's convenient. The three arms of government — legislative, executive and judicial — were designed, with a great deal of foresight by America's founding fathers, to have checks and balances. If one arm is more powerful than the others, the whole structure is no longer stable.
This hope for the future lies in the fact that in America, change is still possible WITHOUT revolution. We all have a chance to make it happen.
After the terrorist attacks on this country in 2000, I saw our nation coming together as one people. We gave blood, donated money, volunteered for relief organizations, did anything we could to feel like we were helping after that terrible day in September. It was a time of good will, of unity and fellowship.
That good will and unity is what America is all about. We shouldn't be the ones who have our hands out for money, who focus on the almighty dollar as our ultimate goal. Instead, we should be the ones who reach our hands out to help others.
As long as we believe that there is nothing we can do to make things better, nothing will improve.
Now, none of the presidential candidates has a magic bullet that will cure all the country's ills. The truth of the matter is, WE hold the power. We have the power to make our communities safer, to be sure all our children are fed and educated. We have the power to elect men and women who are committed to the ideals this country was founded upon. We have the power — and the responsibility.
I see hope for the future when I look at my young sons. At 17 and 19, they already are engaged in the political process. They are committed to having a positive impact on their world. They believe we can reclaim this country, and operate once more from strength and hope, rather than fear.
I'm starting to believe it too.
I know many of you will disagree with some of what I have to say in this column. That is your right; I won't tell anybody what to believe. But I can urge everybody to get involved — in their communities, in their state, in this country.
Together, we can make a difference.