On February 5th, 2008……

I will be casting my vote for Barack Obama for President.

Yes, this 52 year old white guy will be looking to give the United States a chance to begin with a fresh start, a fresh face and a fresh perspective that Senator Obama provides.

While there are those that question his “experience”, I see him as having enough of that to know how the current system works and the ability to see where corrections need to be made in that system. I believe he approaches this with the understanding that these corrections, or changes, will need to be done by those he will choose, based on his strong suite of judgment, rather than the more current method of who you “owe” a favor to.

I have watched how he has not been sucked into the race debate – the “is he black enough” – that those within my party would use to validate there own position as being important and in turn, who see their subsequent endorsement as a “necessary” check off to acquire the party’s nomination.

Much to their dismay, Obama has worked at a level above this – causing them to have to play catch-up to him. These supposed kingmaker’s frustrations are beginning to show as they see his ability to garner both white and minority votes without their influence in the mix is viewed as a threat and something that needs to be dealt with in an untested manner. They failed early on to correctly gauge the level of Obama’s potential appeal and in doing so, failed to plan how to deal with it in a constructive way.

Unfortunately for Hillary, her one time asset – her husband, the former president Bill Clinton has become more of a distraction of late. His utterances that casts doubts upon Obama’s abilities are becoming more and more viewed as signs of both a divisive and desperate approach by her campaign. Add to it that she cannot control his off the campaign script actions and one is left to wonder what a newly christened Clinton White House would look like -and be received on a daily basis on the world stage- given an uncontrollable First Husband. The impact of off-the-cuff remarks that differ from a national U.S., Hillary Clinton instituted, policy could very well be monumental and would not be easily undone by some warm and fuzzy moments with Tyra Banks.

Another unfortunate fact for Hillary is her very high negatives going into a general election - and most of them having nothing to do with her gender, but rather a prospect of revisiting the nightmarish headlines of the prior Clinton era.

Speaking of gender based votes, why do I have the feeling that an all female ticket of Elizabeth Edwards / Michelle Obama would dwarf Hillary's candidacy for it's ability for garnering votes and prevailing in the fall general election? Is it a not so outrageous proposition for the Dems to consider at a brokered convention? Forget their husbands and wrap your mind around an Elizabeth/Michelle ticket for a moment or two. Two intelligent, well spoken people, lawyers both, who are passionate and genuine in their approach to any subject that has been handed them to dissect in an impromptu setting. Both are just as "tough" as Hillary (they are mothers, after all) and know first hand the travails of a campaign. Is this that far flung of a notion? Just a thought.

There are many more reasons that I could cite for my upcoming vote for Obama, but I fear that anyone reading this may fall prey to the process of glazing over of eyes and the stifling of yawns that could soon start, so I’ll just end it here.