I consider myself an amatuer historian. I’ve read biographies on more than half of our U.S. presidents. I love reading biographies because I feel as though reading about great men helps you become one yourself. I don’t know if Obama is one of these great men but he certainly appears to have the ability to become one.

A good friend of mine once asked me what I thought all the founding fathers had in common. My answer was that they were great thinkers. Way before television and radio these men wrote letters and published them in newspapers to get their opinions out. To do so, and to do so well, they were well read themselves. All of them read thousands of books in their time.

When I hear Barack Obama speak it is like listening to one of these great men. He speaks with logic and as one that has a firm grasp of what is happening around him. It’s inspiring to know that he could be the next leader of this great country.

It’s a happy day for me now that he has secured the nomination of the democratic party.

Hillary Clinton can’t win. As long as the race comes down between Barrack Obama and John McCain, as a country, I believe we’ve already won.

It is my opinion that both of these men would make better leaders than we have had in many years.
John McCain has been my favorite republican for years. It’s his liberal tendencies that I like the most. I’d bet that he’s the favorite republicans of most democrats. I strongly believe he would be the best candidate when it comes to party differences. Most republicans loathe Hillary Clinton and Obama is probably too far to the left to get much republican support. Sure I worry about his age. We’ve all seen how the office can age a person. Look at any president’s pictures from the day they took the oath until the day they left office. They all look like they gain twenty-five years not four to eight.

While I’m not convinced that Obama can get us out of the Iraqi quagmire as quickly as he boasts he can, I do think that he’s a brilliant man and capable leader. We need a charismatic person like him in the White House to regain both our international respect as well as our own national self-respect. He seems to base his opinions on logic more than anything else. Logically, most of what our government does, doesn’t make any sense. Having a logical leader would logically help solve this problem. Follow my logic?

Hillary Clinton, I believe, would base her opinions on public opinion and polls more than anything else. She’s the quintessential politician and I don’t trust a word that comes out of her mouth.

Once Obama becomes the democratic candidate, the choice gets a little more difficult to make.

I don’t mind higher taxes which is the main reason my decision to be a democrat is an easy one. This isn’t a religious statement but being Godless clinches the deal. Take out taxes and God and I can’t think of a single reason to be a Republican. I personally feel that higher taxes are a necessity for our country. We can’t possibly provide healthcare and accept our global responsibility of protecting nations from bringing humanity to a state of destruction and chaos without the funds. I’m also in the globalization business and eradicating our national debt is the most surefire way of raising the dollar’s value. A higher dollar for me would far and away offset higher taxes. I also enjoy my personal freedoms, my right to surf whatever crazy websites I want without them being illegal and I’d certainly like to see stem cell research and other emerging technologies not stymied by the republicans. For all of these reasons I’m a democrat.

On the other hand, I firmly support The United States approach to policing the world. I’m worried that Obama will pull too far away from this. I’m sure many Americans and nearly everyone else will have a problem with this statement but let me explain.

After World War I the League of Nations was established. President Wilson and his foreign counterparts believed that the way to avoid another global conflict was for a group of powerful nations to police the world. They were right but they didn’t do their job. For twenty years they never took this task seriously and punished Germany for a war (WWI) that really wasn’t their fault but instead the result of all European powers building up their force to a point where firing started and nobody could even remember why. Fascism arose due to an do-nothing-League-of-Nations and before we knew it we were in another world war.

After World War II we tried again. This time we formed the United Nations and France, Russia, China, The United Kingdom and The United States took on the primary responsibility of policing the world. It was widely considered during this period that policing the world was a necessity. All the great thinkers of the age agreed.

What are we to do now that we are the sole remaining super power? I’ll tell you. We must police the world. It is our responsibility alone until the European Union gets its own common military in order and can share the burden.

Where George Bush will go down as one of the world’s worst presidents is his horrible handling of this awesome responsibility. Just because he muddled it, doesn’t mean the work doesn’t need to be done.
So once again I believe that we’ll be forced to make a presidential vote based on the lesser of two evils. While I believe McCain is the man to make the tough military decisions he’s still a republican and ultimately I’ll vote Obama. Hopefully, once in office, he’ll continue our long tradition of policing the world without getting us directly involved with unnecessary conflicts like the one in Iraq.

If there is a God, I pray to  him now that Clinton doesn’t win.