Although I’m a political junkie I’d hoped to try to stay  objective  in a race I knew would be clouded with the usual nonsense of our American democratic experience where marketing and the politics of personal destruction *always* trump an intelligent discussion of the issues.   However I’ve been especially alarmed by the very personal and deceptive attacks on Obama’s character and personal history.   Thanks to some huge comment streams this blog has become mostly political for the past week so I should let readers know where I stand.

Barack Obama for President.

Like Christopher Buckley I’m normally a small government low tax fiscal conservative, but also like Buckley I think more than anything right now the country needs a “first class mind” in the oval office.  The world faces the greatest fiscal crisis since the great depression, and global terrorism remains a critical threat around the world.   Perhaps the John McCain of the 1990s would be a good man for the job now, but that John McCain is not running for President.

Obama, unlike any other prominent American leader, will send a signal to the world that the USA remains both the shining beacon of prosperity we have always been but also is asserting an entirely new approach to internal affairs – an approach characterized by flexibility, compassion, and intelligent reflection rather than the knee jerk ideological responses that have compromised our reputation and standing in the global community for much of the past 8 years.

Obama is the right choice for these challenging times despite some flaws.   I’ll keep hoping that the economic challenges will force Obama into more realistic ideas about how the economy and personal responsibility.    I hope Obama will soon come to realize how the national debt and deficit are ticking time bombs that pose a  greater than the current looming financial crisis, and work hard towards a balanced federal budget.

But trumping those concerns for me is that the country will benefit from Obama’s ability to galvanize support and bring people together.  Some will choose to fight Obama and to continue the smears and personal attacks, but in the same way that approach has failed in the campaign I hope that approach fails with America as we move forward to the great challenges that we all must face together, like it or not.

The future is uncertain and potentially very perilous.   Major changes and challenges are coming at us with each passing day.  We need inspired new leadership.

Obama for President.

Anyway … the cooler logo should win this thing