The past few days have been very difficult on this JRE supporter. Over the last year, he’s been singing my tune. Fight the corporations, fight the special interests, fight the powers that be. Fight, Fight, Fight!
And all the while I’ve been right there along side you. I believed in your message, and I believe in your tactics, I believed in your brand of politics.
I donated money that I couldn’t afford to donate. I talked about your campaign to coworkers, family, and friends. I urged them to pick up our banner to fight the corrupt culture of Washington and defeat the special interests in the name of the common good.
But I lost that fight.
Polls in Nevada and South Carolina weighed heavily on me. They reminded me that last time, in 2004, when I stuck by my man Howard Dean, I was ultimately crushed by the blow. I watched the movie Primary Colors on a continuous loop for days. I ordered a couple seasons of the West Wing to try to cheer me up. But I’m not giving up my fight for you because I’m afraid of being crushed again.
I am changing my support because I am afraid of losing this once-in-a-generation opportunity for our Party and our Country, to truly do something transformational.
And while I will always fight for your Brand of politics, Mr. Edwards, I can no longer continue to fight for your campaign. It’s time that I, and I hope other faithful JRE Believers, come together for my next best option.
And I pause saying "my next best option," because Sen. Obama is still pretty friggin great. He doesn’t say exactly what I wanted to hear, he’s not lock-step in my positions, he’s not saying the things that made me believe in Edwards, the things that made me feel great to be a Democrat again.
But he is saying the right things. He is representing a course of change for our country. He is offering us something new and refreshing. More importantly, he is not a corporate Democrat who will sell out the party.
He is giving me hope and more importantly he’s getting me really excited about Novemeber.
So I held out as long as I could John, I really stuck by you. I believed in you. But the time has come for me to make a decision as to who’s corner will I stand in when the Caucus is called in my town. Who’s agenda will I be preaching when I dial family and friends to join me in the Caucus room? Who’s banner of change is realistic electorally? Who’s opportunity to take this country and this party in a new direction can I believe in?
Who is going to be the transformational president, who will turn the page and lead our country in this moment of opportunity?
That man is Barack Obama.
I am joining Obama's efforts because I believe in Hope. I believe in Change. I believe that Obama, and Obama alone, is the right person, at the right time, in the right place to lead us out of the last eight years, and lead us in to the next eighty.
Only once in a generation do we have an opportunity to make a statement as a country so strong, so bold, so important, that our voices are echoed in every corner of the globe. That opportunity is now, and I am fired up and ready to lend my voice to the cause.