Wanted: Birthday Present

Nine years ago (time flies, doesn't it?) Tom and I wrote the first posts on this blog. Length of time until our first political post: approximately 4.5 hours.

Given that it's our blog's ninth birthday, we're asking you, our readers, for a gift: the United States of America.

Not just for us, but for all of us. If you're an American citizen, please vote.

We'll be getting together tonight with some friends to watch the election results, and hopefully, open a very nice bottle of champagne. From us here to you, our best wishes for a very happy next four years.

Just wondering

After this day and this election is over, will Obama transform his campaign organization, with those millions of volunteers, into a grassroots organization that will help him govern and put pressure on lawmakers to pass his initiatives? Given his deep belief in community organizing, it wouldn't surprise me one bit.

He beat me to it: Barack Obama for President

I was going to spend part of this day writing a post detailing the reasons why I will be voting for Obama on Tuesday. I've been writing it in my head for the past few days. Then I read John Scalzi's blog today, and find that he's already said everything I was going to say, and probably did a better job of it. I hope that he doesn't mind me quoting him at length:

I’m going to vote for him because I believe he is what I think a president should be: Smart, informed, engaged, practical in ideas and in the execution of those ideas, deliberative and as we have seen in this campaign, someone who keeps his head while all those around him are losing theirs. [...]

I’m voting for Obama, but I’m also voting against both the Republican Party and John McCain, and voting against both for the same reason: Outside of a drive to win and be in power, there’s just nothing there. [...]

I was never going to vote for John McCain, but of all the GOP primary candidates this year, he was the one I would have had the least problem with eventually becoming president. But he lost me with his campaign, which was substanceless, stunt-driven and more focused on trying to scare voters from Obama than on making the case for McCain. [...]

It’s appalling that the GOP base holds up Palin as the sort of person it wants as president of the country, and it points to the sort of intellectual and moral vacuousness that party has that the rest of us simply can’t afford anymore.

There's much more to read and enjoy. I strongly urge you to go read it all.

If you're an American citizen, on Tuesday, make sure that you vote (if you haven't already). We'll be voting for Obama, and against the hateful Proposition 8 here in California.

This is an election that will really make a difference, in the strict sense of the word. By voting, we create the possibility of a huge break from the nightmare of the Bush years. We have the ability to choose a leader who will move us away from the know-nothingism, unchecked greed, and cynical corruption of the last eight years.

Come on. Let's go change the world.