(This is a repost, as requested.)

Remember,

it's never been about whether or not he wore a flag pin.

It's never been true that he's really a radical muslim looking to destroy

America.

If your prejudices and irrational fear are your core reasons for not voting for

him, then take the time to read this.

I could write and write in detail the

multiple reasons why you should help elect Barack Obama our 44th President of

the United States. But I'm not going to.

Both candidate's policies and facts about

those policies from NON partisan sources are out there, laid in the open for

your own discovery. It's not my job to take you by the hand and lead you to

those websites. What I do feel, is that it's my duty to grab you by your

shoulders, look you in your eyes and at least try to convince you to take this

leap with me.

I

understand. There are those of you who want to avoid voting, because you don't

want to be in a situation where the mantra, "Don't blame me, I voted for

the OTHER guy" won't apply to you. I've met people who admitted to me that

they have lost sleep at times, knowing they voted Bush for re-election. I've

seen that face of regret and guilt.

There are

those of you who think your vote won't count because your state may be, in your

opinion, permanently "dyed RED." There are those of you who think no

politician can be trusted. Period.

I get

it.... and I've been there.

Look, I'm

not Leonardo Dicaprio, I'm not Will.i.am, I'm not anyone who could possibly

sway you to vote based on the recognition of celebrity.

I am a

middle class, married father of two who is tired of the way the Country has

gone in the past eight years.

I have followed Obama since his remarkable

Keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Yet, it was always

with a smirk and a wary eye that I admired him, I admit.

But as

time went by and he announced his candidacy for President, my ears perked up

more. You see, people try to claim his resume is thin but his message, goals

and history have elevated him to a new kind of politician. A politician not

bound to owed favors for Oil, Tobacco and HMO lobbyists. The fact that he is

funded by the spare change here and there of regular, concerned Americans is astounding,

and telling.

It also

shaped the slogan that catapulted him above the rest. The slogan was CHANGE.

Not too long after the word became synonomous with Obama, every other candidate

in the primaries, Democrats and Republicans alike, tried to utilize the

buzzword for their campaigns. You even see McCain feebly attempting to utilize

it, regardless of his obvious past in the Senate, which contradicts it.

There is

a verse from a song by the Indie band SUNSET RUBDOWN that goes

"Oceans

never listen to us anyway....

so don't

make a sound."

The

gravity of that mournful lyric once brought tears to my eyes. Now I see it as a

challenge. A challenge to try and prove that line wrong. I'm not alone. You see

the crowds that gather to hear him when he speaks. It's something to note.

If you

gather enough people united to change "It's our turn!"

simultaneously, the roar will drown out the sound of the ocean of cynicism,

fear mongering and savage lies and rumors.

If Obama is elected, and he succeeds as

President for not only one but two terms, the whole game has no option but to

change. Future candidates looking to replace him will have no choice but to run

on a platform that is uninfluenced by lobbyists in order to earn the continued

trust of America. That is a phenomenal thing that most of us have never dreamed

of being a possibility.

There are

those of you out there who still think the idea of bringing over troops home

from Iraq now would be a sign of surrender. Think for a moment about that

stance and what John McCain has told us. He has said that he would "Freeze

spending" except for our defense budget. This paves the way for a

justifiable excuse to leave Education, Healthcare, and the revitalization of our

Government grossly underfunded. The way it is now.

If we

remain an America behind other countries in these areas, then really... what

kind of Country are we supposedly fighting to protect from the terrorists?

I don't claim Obama to be the next coming

of Jesus Christ. He won't bring immediate opening of the clouds or make the

White House lawn green from dead. Anyone who thinks the damage done by W. isn't

going to take time with rolled up sleeves, think again. The question simply is,

who is the one best to do it?

Obama's

plans for America are bold, from Iraq to Healthcare to the economy and down to

energy dependance. It's being scoffed at due to the financial hole the

Government's coffers are in. But people have forgotten that he has explained to

us, during his acceptance speech at the DNC, how he would do it. Closing

"Corporate loopholes and Tax havens..." and going through programs to

eliminate the ones that don't work.

During that speech, he also said something

that startled me.

"Individual

responsibility and mutual responsibility, that's the essence of America's

promise."

Never, in

my lifetime have I heard a Presidential candidate tell me that we all need to

work WITH him to get the job done. They all tell us, essentially, that simply

electing them would make it all better and that's that.

It's also not lost on me that the election

of Obama would also be monumental in an advancement of African Americans. I

heard a story on NPR recently that moved me more than I can explain. A young,

black man who had never voted and had no intention of doing so, decided to vote

early this week when he got a text message from his grandmother. The message

was this...

"Rosa

sat.... so Martin could walk. Martin walked so Obama could run. Obama runs, so

our children can FLY."

The poise

and composure of the Senator from Ilinois is what the Country needs now. The

idea of bullying and rattling sabers to get other Countries to back down and

recognize us as the AMERICAN SUPERPOWER hasn't worked for quite some time. It's

time to move us out of neutral and back into drive, but it can't be done based

on the confidence in others.

Vote early. Vote now. The truth about voter

fraud is that it's mainly based on disenfranchising voters at the polls. Don't

let the long lines sway you. Don't let the mythical threat of being arrested

for unpaid parking tickets at the polls keep you away. Grab your friends,

neighbors, show up in droves and leave knowing you were a part of History.

Are you

like me, living in a state like TEXAS that will most likely go Republican again

this year? Go to Obama's website and sign up to work phone banks this weekend

calling potential voters in battleground states like I am. Stand together or

sigh as one if we don't take our Country back this Tuesday. Do you think we can

do it?

If you've

been paying attention for quite some time...

then you

already know the answer.