Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.

In America, this presidential race will see a Democrat win. The Republicans only have a fool's chance of winning. Their frontrunner is a redneck personified, a dull and uncharismatic war veteran, John McCain. The other name that stands out is actor Fred Thompson, who has only recently thrown his hat into the race. With the Bush administration recording its lowest ever numbers in polls of recent, and the Virginia Tech massacare still fresh in the minds of the voters, the Republicans themselves can not think they have any chance at all.

That then leaves us with a Democrat as the winner, and the 2008 race sees two extremely high profile and exciting candidates in the fray, Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Senator from New York, and Barack Obama, the Senator from Illinois. Clinton does not interest me, except as an opponent of Obama. I personally find her, harsh, vulgar, and unmotivating. Her stint as the First Lady was marred by controversy, and then completely overshadowed by her reaction to and support of her husband's extra-curricular activities while in the Oval office. Her biggest selling point is the fact that she is a woman. While I am not denying her experience both as a lawyer and an active First Lady, and then subsequently as a Senator, there is no question her biggest appeal is to the female voters as a woman.

Now we arrive at Obama, a first in many respects for the American public. His unusual name is at the very top of the list. American are used to good, regular names, that sound Chrisitian, or at least jewish. They are, in fact, not fans of unusual names, least of all a man with a Kenyan name, and a middle name that is Hussein. Obama is the son of Kenyan man, and a white woman, who was raised in Hawaii. This unusual cultural mix is disconcerting to most Americans who like to see their leaders come from solid backgrounds, and conventional families. Obama is also obviously black, and is probably the first African-American candidate to have a serious shot at the presidency. At 45, Barack Obama, is very young to be running for president, but his youth brings with it a sense of hope and promise for the voting public. Unlike many other candidates, Obama has publicly discussed his use of drugs as a young man, and has not pushed it back into the closet for it to emerge in the middle of his campaign as a scandal. He also has the support of most Hollywood liberals, including Oprah Winfrey who has come out publicly supporting his candidacy for President(which is not really a positive in my book). Obama has also opposed the war in Iraq and has criticized the Bush administration's policy with regards to pulling out American troops from the country.

Obama's biggest selling point is his vitality, and his charisma. Elections are about perception rather than about politics, and Barack Obama clearly wins on that count, he is undeniably appealing to all age groups and all ethnicities, he is attractive with a young family(too young to cause drunken scandals like the Bush twins) and he is the sort of person each person can pin their individual hopes to, whether he does indeed represent those hopes or not.

So, here's the thing, I like the guy, and I think he has a halfway decent shot at rescuing the world from Bush's catastrophic decisions. So, if you're American, and you're reading this, vote for the fella!