We are living in a time of humility. And it feels good.
I have voted in many political races over the many years I have been voting. I have voted in primaries, local races, Congressional races and Presidential elections. Often, I have done so by rote -- not particularly fond of either candidate, but refusing to "vote against" the other guy, or not cast my ballot. As a registered independent, I have voted for Democrats and Republicans, Libertarians and Green Party Members.
But no vote has ever left me feeling the way I do today, when I cast my early ballot in Texas. I am humbled, and awed. Obama has transformed and revived my belief in the possible.
We should not underestimate the meaning of these days.
It is not simply that a black man appears on the verge of winning the presidency. Too much emphasis has been placed in that -- not that it is unimportant, for it signals something of grandeur in our society. So, yes it is important. But it is also irrelevant.
I did not vote for a black man today. I voted for a leader, a man who inspires, a man who calls out to the better part of myself, who soothes the exposed nerves pulled out by so many years of being governed in this country by hatred and fear, dogma and delusion.
He would never write the last sentence I did. He is, simply, too good for it.
So many people at one point or another bemoaned Obama's apparent lack of passion, suggesting that he would lose the election because of it. What some saw as passion gap was in fact a reflection of equanimity that makes him such a clear choice in such troubled times. He was better than us, smarter than us, more sure footed than us, less frightened than us. He calmed us and encouraged us. He was, in every sense of the word, a leader.
He was by any definition, Presidential.
I am awed to vote for Obama. We are standing of the precipice of a new day. And I know that he is a man of the integrity, courage and intelligence to lead us there.