a date with destiny?

by Samuel Sukaton

Published: May 5, 2008

The Obama campaign is reaching out to Republicans.

This goes back as far as Obama’s 2004 DNC speech in Boston, with that passage that established him as a national contender and stirred the hearts of millions of Americans:

The pundits like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue states. Red states for Republicans, blue states for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don’t like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the red states. We coach Little League in the blue states and, yes, we’ve got some gay friends in the red states. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq, and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq.

We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the Stars and Stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

Yes, I know most of us have heard it. And regardless of what you think of his rhetoric (look at Ezra Klein’s story at the American Prospect and the responses to it), most Americans are sick of demonizing each other. Really.

And I’ll admit, the Democrats have it good. Much has been made of the first female president or first black president coming this year.

This will be my first election and I’ll admit that the idea of being part of history has its charm.

However, this election isn’t just about history or horse races.

It’s about the debt I’ll be shouldering after I graduate from college.

It’s about the price of food creeping up because of transportation costs.

It’s about a war that has needlessly destroyed lives, torn families apart and dragged our national reputation through the mud.

So, when you vote, please think with your head and not your history.

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