Race, Sex & Politics...

...These are a few of my favorite things!

Last night during Sarah Palin's acceptance speech, I caught myself thinking more than once, "I am so voting for her for President." And then I got a reality check and realized that my vote for her would be a vote for a candidate I'm not particularly fond.

It's not that I don't agree with McCain on important issues--it's just that I don't like the guy. I find him incredibly boring and blase. And Cindy? I see vapid. Yawn.

Flip the coin, and you've got Obama, a very charismatic man. I love him. And, I disagree with him on some major issues. And his wife? I love her too. But who the hell is this old, white-haired Joe Biden guy???

For a while there, I thought Obama had it in the bag. McCain was dying a slow and painful political death until his announcement last Friday that Palin would be his running mate. With one strategic chess move, McCain yanked the nails out of his coffin and put himself back in this race.

Ladies and gentlemen, in one corner, we have an ancient balding white man with a woman as his running mate. And in the other corner, a black man with an old furry white man as his running mate. I love this country.

Not that I want to make it out to be all about race and sex, but you gotta be proud that our country is considering a black man to be its leader, and now considering a woman to be its co-leader. And just for kicks, let's have a little history lesson:

In 1787, eleven years after our country was founded, Jews, Quakers and Catholics were finally granted the right to vote. Well, it was actually 1828 before Jews got the right to vote in Maryland... In 1865, the 15th Amendment to the Constitution gave African-American's the right to vote. But it wasn't until the sixties that the Civil Rights movement began to make it safe for African-Americans to exercise their rights. And women? In America, the voting rights nationwide weren't granted until 1920 upon passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.

All that to say that it's a pretty big deal that a black man and a woman are contenders in this election.

I haven't been this excited about a political battle since my John Kerry flip-flops arrived in the mail in September 2004. Maybe I'll dig them out of my closet for the new political season.

Forget the fact that I am responsible to help choose the next leader of the free world. Forget that the position of President should be chosen wisely. I'm just thrilled that the competition has been kicked up a notch. And what's even more fun? I don't know who I'm going to vote for yet.

Courtney (conservative) and Nathan (liberal) have been fighting over my vote at work. It's a nice place to be--the middle. I told them they should begin to lavish gifts upon me and then we could talk politics.

I am so proud to be an American during this historic election!