I don't know about you guys, but I not only want, I NEED INSPIRATION.

[Liberal Veteran]

Since 1994, it's been one kidney punch after another.

The loss of Congress.

The shitstorm that followed losing congress.

The theft of 2000.

Nearly 8 years of Chimpy McFucktard.

Watching homophobia run rampant.

Russia turning back toward the Soviet paradigm.

The dependence on China.

Global warming.

The swiftboating of a war hero.

Two wars.

Nearly 4000 dead Americans in Iraq.

An economy on the skids.

The Supreme Court tilting to the right.

The consolidation of the media.

9/11/2001.

Tens of thousands of Americans injured in unnecessary conflicts.

45 million people without health care.

Winning congress back by such a small margin that we can't do much of anything but slow down the damage.

Houses being foreclosed on.

Hurricane Katrina and the government's response.

A crumbling infrastructure.

A space shuttle breaking up in orbit.

Waiting listing for HIV medications.

Becoming a country that is ridiculed and mistrusted by former allies.


My soul is becoming tired of this fight for what I know is right.

I need more than just another seat warmer who is halfway competent.

I need someone who makes me feel like at the end of the day the fight is really worth it.

I need a new direction.

I need a cheerleader.

I need a leader who can stand up and make us feel like we can accomplish anything we set our minds to and will challenge us to do so.

When all is said and done, I believe that we need a leader and a figurehead that challenges us and in turn we can challenge to rise higher and higher.

I am not looking for a messiah or a prophet.

I am looking for inspiration, because it's always been the leaders who inspire us to believe in them and ourselves that have brought our country from the brink of despair.

I believe Obama can do that and I think he believes in us as well.

Some people can dismiss it cynically as "just words", but nearly every great turning point in history began with someone who inspired people through words.

I believe it's worth the chance. The brass ring only comes around once in a lifetime. We'd be fools not grab it and we'd be greater fools to allow cynicism to nail our feet to the floor.

[K Gardner]

1. My soul, too, is tired. Barack Obama is an oasis, a drink of water for me.. a place where I

can rest. There is a long road ahead. We will travel it together, all of us.

[NanceGreggs]

2. A heartfelt REC for this post ...

... and one for K. Gardner's post above me.

:applause:

[Double T]

3. Inspiration usually doesn't last very long and get you very far.

What this country needs is NOT talk but REAL ACTION.

[Liberal Veteran]

4. Neither candidate can undo the damage of the last couple of decades without motivating the people.

If this was one of those good times where all we needed was a hand at the wheel to keep us on course, I might be willing to discard the candidate that inspires.

But I think we need a good deal more than that.

[Double T]

8. Why weren't people motivated to do something while the neocons highjacked.........

our nation and economy. Motivational speeches are NOT going to cut it; the Clinton's turned the HW economic disaster into a drastically improved 'surplus'. An actionable track record should be the MOST important requirement for ANY voter. obama certainly does NOT have ANYTHING that remotely looks like that. HRC and WJC certainly do!

[scheming daemons]

10. They weren't motivated because there was nobody motivating them!

Howard Dean tried... but he fell short.


John Kerry didn't succeed at it... and he fell short.


Hillary Clinton doesn't have the ability to do it... so it won't happen.



It takes a LEADER to motivate... you are right... Bill Clinton could motivate, and that is why the RW hated him.


But....sadly.... his wife cannot.


Oratorically, and strategically, Barack Obama is more like the 1992 Bill Clinton than Hillary is.

[Liberal Veteran]

14. At the end of the not enough of us were inspired to do more than give lip service to change.

WJC isn't running for president.

HRC/WJC is basically "been there, done that" with a twist.

And while I may be willing to credit her competence, Hillary Clinton isn't going to raise the hopes and dreams of this country or challenge us to be better by merely being a competent, but ultimately uninspiring leader.

[scheming daemons]

Without inspiration, without motivation, action is not possible...

..that's the point of the OP.

[Double T]

11. oooing and aahing over obama speeches may feel good............

but if YOU take time to look at HIS track record, there certainly isn't much ACTION.

[scheming daemons]

15. The ACTION is done by *US*... that's what you don't get... Nothing meaningful happens in this ....

...country that doesn't have the force of the will of people behind it.


You are still thinking "top-down".... but this country was founded on, and best succeeds, when actions are "bottom-up".


It takes someone like Obama to get the grass roots to PUSH for action to take place.



Hillary lacks that VERY ESSENTIAL skill..... Past "track record" is the most overrated quality ever hyped in a Presidential campaign. There is no "track record" in a legislative position like the senate that can prepare a candidate to be President.

NONE.


FDR pulled us out of a depression because of his ability to inspire, not because of some "track record".

Lincoln held this union together because of his ability to inspire, not because of some "track record".



The reason you still support Hillary is because you just don't GET that.

[Double T]

18. I'm sorry, I disagree. I get it just fine.

obama tells YOU and ME he is against NAFTA then looks across our northern border and winks and says it is ONLY political rhetoric and he was NOT serious. obama FIRST tells YOU and ME that HE has never heard wright speak in a derogatory manner, then later admits that HE has. obama is a fraud and lacks ANY kind of leadership character; HRC certainly has abundant leadership character. I get it, YOU don't. Denial is truly blinding.

[Liberal Veteran]

24. And sadly that is where you lose me. Remember...we already had both Clintons in the WH.

It's what got us NAFTA. It's what got us DOMA. It's what got us DADT. It's what got us no universal health care. It's what got us Bush. It's what got us "welfare reform". It's what got us more media consolidation.

While certainly things were not horrible during that administration, it wasn't all that. Rem

I've already lived in the 20th century.

I have no desire to relive it. The Clintons had their chance, but they backed down again and again...even where it would have made no difference.

[TheDoorbellRang]

20. It was his track record that made me a confirmed supporter

I became a supporter after Iowa, but still worried about his much-touted "lack of experience." Did some digging and realized this guy's been a unifying magnet to get sh*t done since Harvard. If your qualifications are someone who's done seven impossible things before breakfast, you won't be satisfied with anyone. If you might be impressed with someone who's gotten stuff done by uniting Harvard law students, or black people in Chicago, or Republican and Democratic senators in the Illinois House, or voters across the nation, then maybe you'd be a little more impressed.

[femrap]

5. I prefer solutions, action, and common sense.

And the realization that the Wealthy Fascists are using 'Divide and Conquer' on the Democratic Party. Male v. Female White v. Black Older v. Younger

Realize we must put a Dem in the White House....and many Americans have outgrown inspiration. Let me put that another way...they can't afford inspiration. They require solutions.

[Liberal Veteran]

7. ANY democrat would be better than what got. I want one that will get us back on course.

And with the mess the next president has to deal with, that will require having a motivated populace behind that president.

I don't doubt Hillary's competence as an executive. As a leader though, I find her as inspiring as my sixth grade math teacher.

The president we pick is not going to do all the work for us while we sit on our asses and sadly, left to our own devices, that's usually what we do as a people.

That's where inspiration comes in.

[femrap]

21. I'm afraid we disagree....

I don't see experience behind BO...I have no reason to trust him. That is my issue with him...TRUST. And to a lesser degree..inexperience.

But I hope we'll both vote for whomever is the Dem candidate....deal?

[pointsoflight]

13. The great thing is that Obama gives us inspiration, solutions, and action

He showed that in a very successful run in Illinois, and then as one of the most active senators in the U.S. senate. It's a complete myth that he's just about giving speeches. Just not true. Again, one of the most active senators in the U.S. senate, as a JUNIOR senator.

[femrap]

19. I disagree...he ran against a man who was living

in Maryland, Mr. Keyes (or is it Keynes)...who is pretty much a joke in the political world. BO has never really had to face a difficult race.

And, sorry, I don't see much action in the US Senate from him. I was there the first day he arrived when Ohio's Electoral Votes were the hot issue....He could have been bothered with our Democracy. Boxer, Dodd, Harkin and some others spoke...but BO just said he was so happy to be in DC. I was shocked.

As one ages and sees and feels the heartbreaks that politicians cause, inspiration doesn't excite anymore.

Divide and Conquer is killing the Dem Party....

[Liberal Veteran]

25. And yet somehow, that man who never faced a difficult race is the frontrunner against someone...

...who was supposed to a shoo-in for the nomination.

A black man.

A man with a name that automatically invokes xenophobia by the strange familiarity of it.

A man who didn't have the backing of the party leadership.

He had more going against him coming into this race than most candidates do.

[femrap]

28. The party leadership wasn't pro-HRC....

all the Dem-males (Kennedy, Kerry, Kucinich...well that's the 'K's") are behind BO. As Shirley Chisholm said: 'Men are men.'

I'm resigned to Prez McCain...we've been 'divided and conquered.' Dems always fall for their tricks.

[Liberal Veteran]

29. And yet we have a black man and a white woman as the two left in the race.

If it was some "vast testosterone wing conspiracy" wouldn't Clinton have been one of the first people out of the race?

[femrap]

35. No....TPTB wanted to

'Divide and Conquer' the Dem Party. Male v. Female White v. Black Younger v. Older (Gen X v. Boomers)

Now that Dems are at each other's throat (just look at DU and other sites), looks like the Rich White Boys win again. And these Rich White Boys have no political party affiliation. They pray and love only money, power, and greed.

It's the Rothschild/Rockefellers, Stupid.

I still have doubts that there will be an election in November. You think these neo-con fascists want to cede power...they have everything legally set up for Martial Law...even Canadian troops can enter and squash any uprising. But maybe they'll just be satisfied with a Prez McCain?

Elections are really just circuses for the peasants...let you think you have some control over your life. hahaha.

And don't get me started on the bail-out of Bear Sterns...!

[housewolf]

6. Turn on your tv right now to CSpan

and you'll get some.

[biggerfishsmallpond]

9. together we are stronger

inspiration is required after 7 years of Bush

[GoldieAZ49]

12. inspiration from a politician how sad

particularly one that wants you to project on him whatever you want, and tells you that he will disappoint you.

The trouble with electoral fevers is that they can burn out. Mr. Obama himself has written of this risk with an out-of-body coolness.

“I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views,” Mr. Obama wrote in “The Audacity of Hope, his I’m-running-for-president book. “As such, I am bound to disappoint some, if not all, of them.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/us/politics/24obama.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1204250736-OyKeIHRcnJN5NQfgBvbzOw&oref=slogin

they are burning out, the hope-pope is just another politician, he has disappointed some, if not all, of them.

[Liberal Veteran]

16. You call it sad, but I call what you expressed "cynicism".

[Annces]

17. Yes

He was kind of like a morale booster for the troops. Badly needed. A leader who gets in there and cares, not someone who just lords over everyone.

[better tomorrow]

22. Let this inspire you....

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZJgJQon_Udg

[annie1]

23. I like being inspired as well. Just so happens Bo doesn't inspire me....

neither did kerry, but hillary does. different strokes for different folks i guess.

[stillcool]

26. Sometimes I don't dare hope..

I take little snippets and recognize the impossibility of the reality. But that's as far as I go. Every movement needs a leader. Organization and mobilization of the masses to stand up to their government. Since the selection of 2000 I have learned to expect no justice, no law and order, and brute force to gain power. Like a banana republic. It does take audacity to hope. The cynical side of me wants to dismiss the idea of the possible, and remain firmly planted in the catastrophic inevitable. The audacity to hope, Indeed.

[slinkerwink]

27. It takes a leader to inspire people, and Obama has done that

[gulliver]

30. Hillary inspires me. Obama doesn't.

Sometimes Obama impresses me, but I never find him inspiring.

People who need to be inspired are asking for trouble. They are easy marks. It's better not to need to be inspired. It seems to me that most of the time when I wait for inspiration, it never shows up. But when I take the reins and actually do something to improve things, then inspiration comes.

[Liberal Veteran]

31. Maybe it's because we have different experiences in life?

I'm 43 years old. I am a gay man. I have AIDS. I work a full time job and pop a handful of pills every single day to keep me alive. Even when I am exhausted, I am terrified to call in sick because I might need those days off for a real illness.

In the last 10 years my mother has died, my father has died, my grandmother died and my career was outsourced to India and I had to drain my 401k to pay tuition and my mortgage while training for a new career.

I make ends meet, but at the same time, I think I've struck a decent balance between kicking myself in the butt and wanting a little something more.

Maybe I am an easy mark. You see, hope is pretty much all there is for me anymore. I am not unhappy, but I want to see real and big change in my country.

[fujiyama]

32. Leadership requires vision

Great leaders are not merely technocrats. They have a greater vision that ultimately inspires others to do great things as well. Obama has this.

[VotesForWomen]

33. you need to get acquainted with reality; inspiration doesn't amount to a hill of beans in washington

[Liberal Veteran]

36. If you left idealism behind in your embrace of cynicism, you have my pity.

I will NEVER give up my idealism.

[lligrd]

34. K&R