Yes We Can

Soo, yup, another political blog. Just what you wanted to see I'm sure. But this is the first time in my memory that I can honestly say I believe our president knows what it is like to be NORMAL. To not be born with a silver spoon in his mouth from day one. To understand what it is like to not know how you are going to pay for college. Or a place to live. Or food for your family. Or a backpack and pencils every September.

I am the third child of divorced parents, both liberal arts/music teachers. Both have worked 2-4 jobs for as long as I can remember. One was on disability due to extreme health conditions. I fully trust our future president can sympathize, and relate to these all too common circumstances. I fully trust that his contributions and changes to our government will help the common families who struggle on a day to day basis.

Financially, we have always squeaked by, but only on account that my parents raised us to be three extremely independent, hard working, and driven individuals. All different in personalities, but with the same core values. We have been encouraged and nurtured to take any path we choose: a youth and family of ministries director, a translator (to put it in simple terms...) and a wanderer waiting to get her feet wet. We have been encouraged to follow our hearts. Yet, as a whole, our generation has been denied this opportunity. We live in a world where twenty-somethings choose a job based on who will provide health insurance, and what will pay the bills. We are forced to choose a path at the age of 18 years old. Ask buisness majors, actuaries, accountant majors, etc. WHY they chose their major. The most common answer I've heard is because you can make a lot of money. I would be an art major, or musical performance major if I thought I could make a living doing anything but teaching. But, Communication Studies and Health and Sports Studies are "diverse" majors....hopefully providing me with the resources to find a substantial job, and become a productive member of society.

I graduate in six months. My largest goal in life is to find something I love to do for income. If health insurance is affordable, my doors open to a whole different shade of blue sky. Furthermore, there is no reason on earth for children in the United States of America not to have the healthcare they need. Healthcare is an extremely important platform for me, coming from a family who has needed it. Cancer, bone diseases, etc. down to me having strep throat or an ear infection once every 6 weeks until I was 12 years old. I can't imagine how my parents dealt with the constant co-pays, let alone how they would have dealt with it had I not been covered.

Words cannot describe the pride I felt for my country tonight (this morning...) when Obama made his heartfelt speech. Michelle and their two daughters' hands linked, swinging in tandum with each other as they exited the stage aloft a cheering crowd, chanting "Yes We Can." The tremendous pride I felt for the women in my chapter who have volunteered countless hours encouraging people to register to vote, setting up chairs at conventions, and doing anything that needed doing to help elect who will turn our country around. I was at Obama's first speech after he announced his running for president. I set up chairs. I held his microphone (scariest moment of my life) and I took down chairs. Nothing huge. But the heartfelt, genuine thanks I got from him, and his wife, was enough to convince me that this is a man who is honestly thankful for volunteers. I am not naive enough to believe that politicians don't realize they need to thank their volunteers, and all who helped them. But where was McCain's thanks to his commitee, individual volunteers, and those who donated five dollars to his campaign? There was none. Yet Obama realizes the reality that some people might not have $5 to give.

After the speech I volunteered at, Barack took time to talk to each individual volunteer about any questions we may have. I spoke to Michelle for a decent amount of time about teachers in our nation, and what she thought about the current pay scale. I'm sure there were days when they didn't want to get up in the morning and do anything more. But you could never tell it. Leading me to my next point:

I love how there is a THEY. Michelle Obama is an extraordinary woman. The Obamas are an extraordinary couple. Michelle has a way about speaking to the public which makes you want to speak back, and give her a hug. She isn't overbearing. She doesn't throw her children into the spotlight. I feel as if Cindy McCain does not have the poise, graciousness, and ability to relate to the public that Michelle Obama does.

In this election, I have witnessed more core, family values within the democratic party than the traditional family values of the conservative party. A month after Joe Biden was elected as the youngest U.S. Senate in the 20th century, the 5th youngest senator in history, his wife and daughter were killed in a car wreck by a drunk driver. Joe Biden rode in a train from Delaware to Washington D.C. every day in order to be at home to raise his sons. These are people with core, family values.

John McCain left his wife after she was disfigured in a car accident. After she had stood by him when he was a POW. He then married the political, money making machine, Cindy.

Sarah Palin has 5 children, and a grandchild on the way. All of them are under the age of 25, the youngest just a few months old, with special needs. What angers me is the fact that someone who supposedly has family values has thrust her children into the spotlight: The son who is deployed, the pregnant daughter, the down-syndrome baby. She has tried to use these antics as a way to "relate" to the common public. But all I see when I listen to her "personal" stories is that she has a BABY who would be raised by its father and a nanny the first four years of its life. She has a grandchild on the way, who she would see for family photographs, and in a frame on her desk, and that's it. Family Values?


It is with confidence, and trust that I welcome this breath of fresh air to America. To all who don't share my political views: I respect the hard work McCain and Palin have accomplished. I hope, as McCain spoke of, that there is middle ground which can be found between the two parties. I hope that we can work together to make this country stronger.