Please Vote for Barack Obama

I am a lifelong Democrat, even if I have sometimes been registered independent. I held a sign for Jesse Jackson in 1988 for 10 hours in East Rochester, NH. I believe in what our party stands for. I believe in the little guy, because I am one. I am a solo practitioner, specializing in family law and special education law. My wife and children are African-American women. I was torn from the start of this campaign. I voted for Senator Edwards in the NH Primary in 2004 and was likely to vote for him this time too; but my daughters moved me to Senator Obama in the last few days of the campaign here this year. And I heard him speak at the 100 Club event, and shook his hand.

I believe in Jesus Christ and the caring ministry he brought to this troubled world. As Michelle Obama said in Delaware a couple of weeks ago, we ARE our brother's, our sister's keeper. We do need to sacrifice, to care, to act.

I believe in the need for change in Washington, fundamental, earth-shaking change. Senator Clinton cannot be that person to bring about the kind of change that is needed.

She fundamental does not get it. This year, unlike any other, experience of the kind she has is exactly what we do not need. Experience inside the Beltway is not the recipe to bring America together. We need a fresh leadership to inspire people to participate again. We need Senator Obama. And, I understand well the way this campaign is different, just as Oprah Winfrey said when she came to Columbia, SC and here to Manchester, NH. This is a different campaign, a different kind of year.

And, 40 years after Martin Luther King was killed in Memphis and Bobby Kennedy was killed in California, we need to move their agendas to the front of ours as a people. Again, the one, the only candidate that can do that is Senator Barack Obama, the son of a single mother, the fighter this party needs to win in November.

Senator Obama was right on the war from the start. He is the voice we need to fight Senator McCain on the war.

He shares the passions for the poor, the disenfranchised that Senator Edwards, that Senator Clinton does. But his is a voice for change for this singular moment in American history. Together, as Congressman Lewis said yesterday, we can dream a little higher. This is a moment we as a party cannot miss. It may never come again.

I pray that the voters in states which still have primaries and caucuses in the coming weeks and super delegates, each and every one, will look into their hearts, hope for the future, believe in the winds of change, and vote for Senator Barack Obama, our next nominee as a party and our next President of these United States of America. With him as our President, we can be united in ways we have never been, not since the first slave stepped foot on this continent.

All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 27,420+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.