The Democratic National Convention hit its crescendo Thursday night, with the acceptance speech of Senator Barack Obama before a stadium of over 85000 people in Denver and millions via televisions worldwide, I reflect on the gamut of emotions I felt this week, as I watched history being written right before my eyes.  Elation, enthusiasm, empathy resulting from the inspiring speeches, annoyance with the childish and pouting media, that seemed to be disappointed by the drama and disunity they couldn't seem to instigate – well, except among themselves.  Both he and the media became the tail of the dog this week and Obama and the DNC is wagging it.    As Obama spoke last night, the McCain camp was actually running around to surrounding states, renting buses, trying to scrape together 10000 people to witness his speech in Ohio today, where he's announcing his running mate. We have broken ground into a new era for this country.  In his speech, Presidential candidate Barack Obama laid out the blueprint for his plan of action, the details of which can be found at the click of a button on www.barackobama.com/issues.  He addressed every concern and missive raised by the GOP and the corporate media.  He issued the call to the McCain camp to “bring it” in the form of debates, he was ready.  And if you don’t know who Barack Obama is after this week, then it’s because you don’t want to know who he is and prefer to hold on to your personal perceptions and prejudices, unwilling to acknowledge you might be wrong.

I just received a call infirming me that Senator McCain has chosen a woman as his running mate, Sarah Palin, a former beauty queen – McCain is consistent – who is currently under investigation for abuse of power in the state of Alaska http://www.ktva.com/ci_10026165 .  She has no major experience foreign, military or otherwise, so we are supposed to believe that if something happens to McCain, she is qualified to answer that 3 a.m. call?  McCain is getting some really bad advice from someone, or he is so desperate and so shallow that he believes 18 million Clinton supporters will chose him over Barack Obama just because he chose a vice presidential candidate who is female, cute and Catholic?  I hope they understand what an insult that is to their intelligence and see the situation for what it transparently is.  And one more thing: This is for the Hillary Clinton supporters:  I would like to suggest, in light of Hillary Clinton’s sincere efforts during the National Convention to bring unity to the party, that her millions of supporters each send a dollar bill to her campaign headquarters to pay off the campaign debt she has hanging over her head.  

Barack Obama is an African American.  Barack Obama is not an African American Democratic Presidential candidate.  Barack Obama is a Democratic Presidential Candidate who is African American. This is not my original thought  -- well actually, I have been thinking about it but could not articulate it.  This is a quote from Congressman Lewis during an interview on CNN.  If we pay close attention to what this statement means, then perhaps we are on our way to dismantling the notion of what race is in a country that should be defined by its ability to embrace global diversity.  Race and gender neither masks nor defines the character of a person, their ability to lead and their vision of what is the best direction for a country.  Die-hard Hillary Clinton supporters should recognize their role in change; it’s not about Hillary Clinton at all, this is bigger than her, bigger than Barack Obama, it is about you and I understanding that our individual decisions on November 4, 2008 will collectively decide the direction this country takes. 

Go back and listen to Barack Obama www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/28/b., his wife Michelle, Joe Biden, Hillary and Bill Clinton, even if you are still determined to not know who the Democratic Presidential candidate is, what he stands for and how his vision and actions measure up to what must happen for  this country to survive. Then compare it to the actions, character and point of views of John McCain,   Then make your choice, but choose, because to not vote at all is the greater blunder.  And you will regret it.