The best part is when Obi-wan's ghost visits Barack in the snow of Hoth.

About four years ago I promised myself that I wouldn't talk politics with my friends unless they asked me a question.  As some of you may know I am rather passionate about politics and to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, the fastest way to lose friends is to discuss politics, religion, and money.  So if you read anything below that you disagree with please delete this email and kick me in the shins the next time you see me.  I'll remember to mind my own beeswax.

On that note though, I'd like to break my own rule this one time and talk a little bit about politics.  As I said earlier I am very passionate about politics.  I don't just listen to the radio, and read blogs, I research political history, I read speeches and policy papers and I try to understand the person not the image.  I try to understand who these people are behind the giant political machines as they run for office during this election; and this year is a special year.  Not only is it a presidential election, but an almost unprecedented one since it will be one of the few times in the history of our country that the sitting VP isn't running for office.  Just like every year, presidential election or no, I've been following this election like a hawk.  Emily can attest to my constant reading and random crazy tidbits of information that I uncover. (e.g. Mike Huckabee, when he was a state senator, covered up for his 17 year old son (who's thirty now) when he hung a live dog from a tree, stoned it and then slit it's throat while a counselor at a Boy Scout Camp)

So after all of this intense work to understand who these people all, and what their positions are I narrowed my choice down to two people who I thought had a real chance of winning the primaries.  Ron Paul and Barack Obama.  I also liked Dennis Kucinich, but his campaign never got off the ground enough to give him a serious chance of winning.  Both Paul and Obama have had excellent track records in Congress, and both hold strong beliefs that I agree with on both an ethical and constitutional basis.  Ron Paul has several personal views I disagree with, but because his belief in the constitution is so strong I felt that I could strongly support him and not have to worry about his personal views obstructing his duty when serving as our President.  Ron Paul has ethical written into his very bones.

I can say all the same things about Barrack Obama.  Although he comes from the other side of the isle as Ron Paul, his honesty and anti-special interest stance have won me over.  Technically, I'm registered Republican because of Arizona's closed primary system, I am a strong Centrist with Conservative (not NeoCon) fiscal views and liberal social views.  He has a real understanding of policy with very specific plans for many areas, unlike some of his opponents who should have better plans because of their extensive experience.  Obama also has shown that he can make the hard choice and admit when he has been wrong, like he did regarding his initial vote for the Iraq War.  Only Kucinich and Paul initially voted against the war.  Plus, and this is coming from an English major, Obama has more honest eloquence in his prepared speeches and his day-to-day speaking than any other person that is alive today.  He is inspiring to me as a middle class American.  He is inspiring to me as a die hard deeply cynical politico, and he has re-kindled the faint hope that our political process can still work.

In the last month the Republican establishment has closed ranks around John McCain, a man I used to respect for his Straight Talk until it veered off into Say Anything.  They've left the honest Abe of Ron Paul out in the cold, and I won't bother you with the details of the dirty back room deals that went down during the delegate meetings where the delegates for the other candidates banded together to vote for anyone but Paul.  I wish it were different.  I wish that for the first time in my life I had a chance to vote for two men I could respect.  I wish that Paul and Obama were running against each other and that the election was about issues and full of fair play and ethics as these two men really debated what was wrong with our country, but that doesn't look like it's going to happen.  Ron Paul is now fighting to just retain his seat in Congress because of his audacity to threaten the NeoCon establishment.

However, Barack Obama is still in the race.  He has a small margin over Hillary Clinton and if he can beat her in Texas and Ohio (huge states she's favored to win) than her campaign will be done.  I don't want to get into mudslinging over Hillary Clinton's faults.  Plus, I want to be clear that I'd love for a woman to be President, just as much as having a black man as our President would be awesome.  I just don't think that Hillary Clinton is the woman who should be that President.  Go read a little bit about who her political donors have been and compare them to the list of donors that have given to Obama.  Read what she has said about Iraq, and what she has said about our economy and our health care system; then read what Obama has to say.  The differences between them should be clear enough.

I believe that if we can come together and use the only thing that Washington listens to, we can make it clear what we stand for, and who that person is that stands with us.  I don't have a lot of free money at the moment.  As you all know most of it is going towards paying for mine and Em's wedding on March 30th (Emily just mailed the invitations!), but I have donated to Barack Obama's campaign, and I hope that if you feel so moved that you may as well.  I hope we can vote for Barack Obama this fall.  For the first time since before I was born, I think that our great and beautiful country has a real chance to change our spiraling economy, change how we treat our neighbors, and change our international image from world bully to international friend.  We have a real chance to return to the very principles that previous young lawyers from Chicago fought for when they were President of our Nation during our darkest hours.