Talking 'Bout My Generation

Top (for me at least) US Presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama spoke Monday evening before a cheering crowd in Los Angeles at the Gibson Ampitheatre. In true LA fashion, his appearance was heralded first with performances by Hollywood entertainers like Nick Cannon, James Whitmore, Ne-Yo, Kal Penn, and the Goo Goo Dolls.

To be honest, the whole experience was a bit surreal. I have been a huge Obama supporter since reading his book "The Audacity of Hope" earlier this year (a book that I HIGHLY RECOMMEND to anyone concerned with the future of American political policy). There is something about the young Harvard educated Senator and noted community activist from Illinois that is simply unlike any other political leader of our generation. He has the charisma and youthful idealism of a KENNEDY, a political saavy and intelligence of say a ROOSEVELT, and an eloquence and sense of social equality of DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. himself. Most importantly, I believe him. I believe HE BELIEVES in what he's saying. It's not just about his politics, about what he will and won't do for this country as president, but more so about who he is and what he represents for all Americans in this country.

Sitting in my bleacher chair, watching him speak close enough to hit him with a bottle cap (my dad's favorite measure of distance), I was forced into a state of stunned reverence for the man before me. Someone I truly believe to be acting not just in the interest of his own professional mobility, but for the betterment of a country he believes in and its citizens he has sworn to help. No political leader is perfect, everyone is human after all. Sure, anyone could find criticisms of this man like any other man or woman (he's too young, he's too inexperienced, he's too idealistic, he's black, his middle name is "hussein"), but one simply cannot argue with his eloquence. He has a way of saying what we all feel and proposing logical and presumably feasible solutions for change, and again, I believe him. I believe in him. Probably in a way women felt hearing Susan B. Anthony speak in the late 1890's or the way segregated African Americans felt in the 1960's listening to Dr. King. Is America ready for him? I cannot be sure, but I do know that regardless of the outcome of this election, Sen. Barack Obama will continue to make waves in this country for many many years to come.

Check out one of my favorite excerpts of Obama's motivational speech below: