The World Senses Hope...Barack Obama is the Nominee!

It was a long and colorful primary season. Well, on the Democratic side anyway. The Republicans spent a few weeks trying to run from Bush and channel Reagan and ended up with McCain. On the other side the two most exciting candidates either party has fielded in decades slogged through months of tough campaigning that yes, was sometimes too vitriolic and vocal. But all in all, it has awakened many Americans to the importance of their vote and the need to cast it wisely instead of having it be manipulated by fear-mongering and hate-rhetoric.

Barack Obama is the presumptive nominee and now prepares to take on John McCain. It really isn't a fair fight. Obama is so above McCain as a candidate that it would take pages to cover. The choice couldn't be more stark and still be between viable candidates. The time for change is now, and McCain represents change like an apple represents a cantaloupe.

While Hillary Clinton has not yet conceded I expect that she will in the next few days. She may yet find her way on the ticket as the vice-presidential candidate. While she has gone over the top sometimes in the campaign, I wouldn't be opposed to her as the veep. If it would help to remove the Republican scourge from the White House, definitely. Politics is sometimes about compromise, and an Obama/Clinton ticket is a compromise I could live with. It would be wise for progressives to consider that we must begin by removing the neo-conservative menace. Time will tell who Obama will choose, it's important to support the entire ticket.

On the positive side, Barack Obama becoming the Democratic nominee will be news the world over. He will be seen as a sharp turn away from the politics of the present. They will be waiting to accept America once again into the ranks of respected nations and out of the darkness of torture and war-mongering. People will not have to look at the news with hesitation when Bush speaks, wondering what catastrophe he will bring upon the planet. America can be seen again as a responsible nation and leader, not as pariah and bully. Competence can begin to replace incompetence.