Yes We Can

A few days ago, as I struggled with deciding who to vote for in today’s primary, I perused the Web looking for clues as to the substantive difference between the two candidates I was considering, Clinton and Obama. I must admit that I have approached this election with a bit of a tarnished eye, I was so crushed by the last general election that I was loathe to get my hopes up for this one.

As I searched for some morsel of information that would tell me who to vote for, I came across the text of the speech Obama gave after his victory in New Hampshire and something stirred within me. I knew then that what I wanted was a candidate who could lift me up out of the morass of the last seven years, one who could reach down to the place of retreat in which I am cowering and pull me into the light. I need a candidate who offers me hope for the future of the country I love and that so often lately has made me ashamed. I knew that I needed my candidate’s policies to be ones that benefit the least among us, that care for the poor, the children, the elderly and all those who live on the margins each and every day. But I wanted something more.

When I read that speech, I realized that this country needs a leader who is inspirational, who speaks to that within us that is noble, loving and kind but, most of all can awaken that sense of hope that has fallen fallow in the face of the present administration’s callous disregard for much that we hold sacred. I have found my candidate.

An excerpt from that speech:

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible odds; when we've been told that we're not ready, or that we shouldn't try, or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people.

Yes we can.

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom through the darkest of nights.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballot; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality. Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can heal this nation. Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

Well said Obama. I agree with you with all of my heart.

As for the rest of us, we will say it aloud, make it our mantra, our prayer, our hope, our blessing.

Yes we can. And we will.

Strength and Courage for the journey,
Suzanne