Here it goes . . . .

I've had a gut-feeling for a while now that I've resisted. I've resisted because my head told me to be prudent, to wait out the process, to let things go at the proper natural pace. The feeling has to do with politics, and because of that statement, I thought politically about it and came up with political interpretations of the feeling. Today, however, I have come to accept that the feeling is about much more than politics. It is about history, about meaning in a world that resists meaning, about the future in a world where the future has suddenly begun to matter again.

So here it is. Here is the gut feeling proclaimed and affirmed, not only with my heart and my brain but also with my wallet and my vote.

The gut feeling is this: Barack Obama is our next president.

This is true not because it is inevitable but because it has to be true. Because at certain junctures in time symbols matter as much as substance. Which is not to say Obama is not a candidate of substance. However, I also like the other democratic candidates. I like John Edwards and Hillary Clinton. I'm in general agreement with the direction each of these candidates would take our nation.

But Barack Obama . . . .

Barack Obama is our future. He is because he has to be, because we need him, because the world needs a U.S. President who makes Americans feel good about being Americans again. We need to be able to say, "it is good to be an American." Not as a negation, not to say, "it is bad to be a non-American," and not to say, "it is better to be an American than it is to be something else," but as an affirmation, as a proclamation that "American" is not equal to the worst in human nature.

Barack Obama must be our next president, and because I believe this, I have contributed $50 to his campaign. Visit his campaign site and see why you should do the same.