Lift every voice and sing!

Wonder, joy and hope!

I just watched John McCain concede defeat to Barack Obama. I’ve spent the past seven hours watching the election returns along with a few hundred other people here in Zürich: Americans, Swiss, and folks of many other nationalities.

In a few short months, Barak Obama will become the forty-fourth president of the United States of America. President Obama will be the leader of all Americans. The nation and world face tremendous challenges; here’s hoping that the supporters of John McCain will heed his call for unity.

This is why Barak Obama is the right man for the job

If you haven't already heard it, I encourage you to listen to Barak Obama's speech about race relations in America, delivered yesterday in Philadelphia and entitled “A More Perfect Union.” In the speech, Obama tackles head-on the controversy of recent days, and does so with humility and eloquence. The speech was brave, forthright, and timely. I cannot imagine Hillary Clinton ever delivering a speech like this. If you agree with me that Obama represents the best hope for the United States and the world, please consider making a contribution to his campaign.

Time to come together

One month ago, I announced my support for Barak Obama. I believe he is the best suited to run the country in the coming years, and to undo the horrible mistakes of the Bush administration. However, last night’s results show that many Americans remain unconvinced. For this reason, I have given another $100 to the Obama campaign to help Barak get his message out.

I would like to ask for your support too. I have set up a personal fundraising page with the goal of raising $1000 for the campaign. Please join me in supporting Barak Obama.

I’m voting for Obama

Today I decided to cast my vote for Barack Obama.

In addition, I donated 100 USD to his campaign — the first time I’ve ever made contribution to a political campaign.

Senator Obama is the first presidential candidate from any party who has inspired me. He has intelligence, compassion, humility, and eloquence. These are qualities that have been sorely lacking in the White House in the past seven years. We also need a leader who is capable of inspiring the nation. I believe Obama has this capability.

I respect and admire Senator Hillary Clinton, but I decided not to vote for her for two simple reasons:

1. I find the Clinton style of campaigning distasteful — changing position based on the latest polls, making untrue insinuations about opponents, and conveying a sense of entitlement — all these things simply turn me off; and
2. I just think Obama stands a better chance of beating Senator John McCain in the general election. A new TIME poll supports this intuition.

Barack Obama has managed to reach young people in a way no presidential candidate in recent history has. The Obama website shows how in-tune his campaign is with the younger generation. It’s reminiscent of a social networking site like Facebook. You can create your own profile (mine is here), meet fellow Obama supporters, invite others to the cause, and even get help with grass-roots organizing and fundraising. I obtained the logo above from the campaign website’s resource library.

The Democratic presidential primary election in Texas will be on 4 March, and because I will be back home in Stockholm by then, I will cast my ballot by mail. I encourage anyone who has not already done so to visit Senator Obama’s web site and learn more about him.