The old joke is that a Republican is a Democrat with a mortgage.  And a Democrat is a Republican under indictment.  The first part of the joke may be subject to review under the circumstances, since a mortgage these days means different things to different people.  No longer does self-interest demand that government forsake those in need.

But after a long, funny and grueling campaign season that has lasted longer than most first felony offender sentences, the day has come to do something about it.  An old Calvin and Hobbs comic that I taped to a bookcase in my office had Calvin saying something to the effect that, by never reading a newspaper, never listening to the news and never voting, he could never be wrong and would never be responsible for anything bad that happened. 

There are many people who profess to “know” the answers to some very big questions facing America.  For the most part, they prove their knowledge by challenging others to disprove them.  This, of course, is a gimmick to fool the unwary by shifting the burden of proving their solution to their opponents, when they can’t affirmatively prove that they have any better answer than anyone else.

Don’t be afraid of being wrong today.  The future is always an unknown, and carries no guarantees no matter what others say or how loudly they say it.  The best one can expect is that we reject that which we know to have failed, and move forward with as much hope and promise as we can muster. 

We know that the Bush administration has been perhaps one of the greatest failed presidency’s ever.  We know that Republican control of Congress and the Presidency was a disaster. 

The question now is whether we want to be put through the same wringer again, even though we’re being told that it’s not the same, it’s new and improved, it’s mavericky.  The real question is whether we will accept the same policies with new names and shinier descriptions.  Can we be fooled?

Barack Obama offers different policies and approaches.  Whether they represent the answer to our problems is unclear.  He’s exceptionally smart and well-educated, something that I consider important even though the anti-intellectual force that bolsters the self-esteem of Joe Six-Pack will call me names for saying so. I am not a fan of people who fall back on “common sense” to answer the question “why”.

Perhaps the thing that brings me the most comfort is the people who will make up Obama’s future cabinet, seen in this photograph.

Notice the somewhat taciturn fellow on the far right?  That’s Jim Chen, dean, blawger, maverick.  Notice the stick in Obama’s hands?  It looks remarkably like the one Teddy Roosevelt used to carry. 

With Jim Chen sitting only one person away from Barack Obama in this photograph of his potential cabinet, I feel comfortable that Obama will have good minds and trustworthy people around him. 

The most important thing that Obama brings to the table is hope.  We haven’t had much of that in a long time.  With no one to inspire us, to inspire our children, to elevate our national focus beyond making the quick buck and driving a new Mercedes, and instead look to bettering humanity, we are a far lesser people than we should be.

While I am not persuaded that John McCain, a man I admired for his integrity for years but who has compromised himself to win election, will offer anything other than the failed Republican orthodoxy, I will not vote against him.  While Barack Obama has not persuaded me that his policies are the “answer” to the serious problems we face, I will vote for him.  I will vote for the most expeditious end to war in Iraq possible, so that no young man or woman dies needlessly to promote political slogans designed to manipulate the ignorant.

But the most important reason I will vote for Barack Obama today is that I believe he will invigorate Americans with a positive message of hope for the future and inspire us to be better than we have been.  It’s been a long time since America had a President who inspired us to be better human beings, and I want that for myself and my children.