I have been voting for nearly 40 years, but the vote I cast today might well be the one I feel best about.
Being an aging "boomer" I often grumble about the rapid change of technology, but this morning, from 7,000 miles away from home, I was able to cast a ballot by internet as a Democrat Abroad.
Living here in an authoritarian regime, where although there is a universal suffrage the ruling party always seems to win by about 95% of the vote, I find it a matter of great pride that I can participate in something close to true democracy, to know that from even this far away my vote will count.
And that vote will count for Barak Obama.
Much has been made of the connection between the candidacy of Barak Obama and the "Camelot" that was the Kennedy era. I lived through that era, and this connection is not fanciful.
I remember the times when we had a President that led us to good places, a President who appealed not to our fears or our greed but to what he saw was the inherent goodness of Americans.
I remember a President who did not pander to us, but who instead challenged us, challenged us to work for good and not just talk about it, challenged us to see beyond the concerns of our day to day lives to envision an America and a world as they could be.
I remember a President who sent us off to deliver America's willingness to help the needy of the world by founding the Peace Corps, who managed to convince so many lazy Americans to get in shape by taking 50 mile hikes (yes, I did that once), who used his authority and prestige to help bring equal rights and equal opportunities to all Americans. Indeed, I remember an American President who had prestige, who was beloved throughout the world.
I remember a President who challenged us to leave the only home our race has ever known and to set off for the Moon and beyond, a voyage that would bring us few riches, that would bring little power, but that would present us all a transcendent challenge that would help define who we were.
I remember a spirit of adventure, of hope, of optimism, of knowing that we are all in this together.
Then one day he died, and so much of that joy went with him. I watched his funeral, saw his coffin pulled through the city to his resting place, heard only the sad notes of the single bugler's taps, and knew that the hopes of generations might be buried with him. It was the only time I ever saw my father cry, and now I know exactly why he did.
I see these hopes in Barak Obama. I dare to see a return to the day when our people will not be afraid but will have a leader who lets our courage show; a leader who will not ask us to be fearful of each other but rather to work with each other for a better world, a leader who will encourage each of us to give her or his best in a spirit of adventure, of optimism, of fraternity.
Less than six years after Kennedy died, as his final gift to us we saw the Earth rise over the Moon's horizon, a sight no person had ever before seen, and we prayed that some day our hopes and our spirits and our hearts would, like the blue Earth from the Moon, rise once more above our barren landscape.
I think that time may be now. I have voted for Obama, voted in the hope that new generations will be led envision a universe of endless opportunity and adventure.
Thank you, America, for giving me that chance.