Video: Believe in America Again

Everyone has their own reasons for supporting a particular candidate and I decided to dedicate a diary to why I support mine.  It is no secret that I am an extremely strong supporter of Barack Obama but this was not always so.

During the 2004 campaign, I supported Howard Dean with a strong leaning towards John Edwards.  Howard Dean had a fiery passion to his candidacy that others in the race lacked.  However, it was John Edwards sense of idealism and hopefulness about government that really appealed to what I wanted to see in my next president.  We all know how that 2004 story turned out so no need to revisit it in detail.

After that devastating 2004 loss, my hopes quickly dashed to 2008 and I began contemplating a Hillary Clinton candidacy as early as December 2004.  But it was in early 2006 where I discovered this little unknown Black senator named Barack Obama.  He was doing an interview on CNN, I believe, discussing his 2004 speech, which I had not heard at the time, and revelations that he could be the next president of the United States.  I quickly dimissed the premise of the whole interview because I assumed like many others that a Black president was impossible.  However, after listening to him speak I became slightly more convinced of the possibility that this guy could do it.

Following that interview, I searched the internet for the video of Obama's 2004 DNC speech that everyone seemed to be so giddy about.  After a dab of google, I played an 18 minute clip that would finally put to rest my doubts that Obama could be the next president of the United States.  That awe inspiring speech motivated a man from Michigan with a wife and three kids to believe in his country again.  That man was me.

I have never been an active participant in politics.  I just voted in the general election every four years and went about the business of my life.  However, Obama's candidacy changed my passive approach to politics.  Obama's candidacy motivated me in early 2006 to join www.draftobama.org to persuade Obama to run in 2008.  Obama's candidacy motivated me to become a member of MyDD and Daily Kos so that I can learn about promoting progressive politics.  Obama's candidacy motivated me to create citizen ad videos that can sometimes take seven to eight hours out of my life without a single penny in compensation.  Obama's candidacy allows me to believe in America again.

The following citizen ad is dedicated to all of us believing in America again.

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