Really Proud for the First Time? Me Too

Am I proud of the United States of America? You bet your bottom dollar I am. I’m proud that in this nation we have freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of choice. I’m proud that this country is still the beacon of hope for every disenfranchised person on the planet. I’m proud that here in the United States I can still work hard and get ahead. But, I’m with Michelle on this. For the first time in my adult life, I’m really proud of my country.

Really Proud? You Bet!

For the first time in my adult life there is a candidate talking about hope and real visceral change rather than the politics of assassination. For the first time in my adult life (and ever) my Party has an African-American, the son of an immigrant and a woman as its primary candidates for the Presidency of this great nation. For the first time in my adult life, I can look to a candidate who isn’t talking about how HE is going to fix everything, but how we have to do it together. For the first time in my adult life, it looks like we may have a President who can draw the nation together behind the banner of real change and help give the country back to the sovereign People. Am I really proud of that? You bet I am.

Never Proud Before? Ridiculous.

The parsing of words and the bloviating by the naysayers and the haters is just beginning. The politics of character assassination is just getting started. We’ve got some guy claiming he had sexual relations and blow with Senator Obama in the back of a limousine. We have a simple statement by his wife that is being blown out of proportion because seven years of the Bush mis-Administration has led us to believe that any questioning of the United States is wrong. We have the politics of destruction, gloom, doom and spin trying to come back, but I’m telling you folks, it’s time for a change. And that change is coming in a big way.

To say that Mrs. Obama was suggesting that she had never been proud of her country before is like saying that Senator Clinton has never been proud of her husband. Have they both been disappointed? Certainly. Mrs. Obama has had to deal with all of the people that told her and her husband that it couldn’t be done. No Black man would win the Presidency. It was simply ridiculous. But, the voters, the American People, that vast, glorious electorate showed all of the naysayers that told them it couldn’t be done that it COULD be done. The American People; those proud, patriotic, stubborn believers in justice and freedom showed everyone that said that it couldn’t be done that it could be done.

And so, Mrs. Obama, in an outpouring of faith, in a moment of brutal honesty, said that for the first time in her adult life, she is really proud of her country. In her adult life she’s seen millions of jobs outsourced overseas and thousands of American families, usually working class people, struggle to make ends meet. She’s seen our country flee from Lebanon and return to a vicious war in the Middle East with no end in sight. She’s seen the government reduce help to those who need it, so that people that don’t need it can get more. She’s seen Presidents with agendas that are not in the best interest of the country. She’s seen a country go from being the uncontested economic superpower to a weak old man, struggling to show that he can still do what is necessary. In her adult life, she’s watched a nation be ripped apart by partisan politics the like we haven’t seen since the founding of the Republic. Yes, she’s seen all of that.

Yet, here we are. After seven years of the most disastrous Presidency in living memory we have a choice. For the first time in my adult life we have a clear choice between the politics of destruction, greed, staying the course and hope in a brighter future.

Yes, that is the choice. For nearly twenty years I’ve watched my nation be faced with choices between OKand not too bad. I’ve watched my nation listen with boredom to the same old platitudes, instead of candidates telling us the truth. The truth is, as Senator Obama has said, that this will not be easy. This is going to be hard. This road that we are on is going to have setbacks, but can we prevail? Yes we can.

So, yes, for the first time in my adult life, I’m really proud of this country. I’m really proud of all of the people out there who have turned their backs on the politics of yesterday in the hope for the unity of tomorrow. I’m really proud of all of the Americans who have chosen to stand up and be heard rather than be silenced by the politics of personal destruction and rancor. I’m especially proud of the Americans who realize that Michelle Obama is not saying that she isn’t proud of America, but who realize that for the first time in her adult life, she’s really proud of the Americans standing up to do the right thing, despite all of those people who tell them it can’t be done.

My fellow Americans…yes we can.