Pulling the Lever

I tried to write this post on Saturday and it came out like total crap. So, this is a warning. This is not Saturday's draft, but still not a pretty draft. These are only thoughts.

I spent the summer working for Obama. I ran into all sorts of people during my work this summer. Some of the people I had encounters with definitely made me doubt the work I was doing. No, these people weren't McCain supporters who gave me doubts about voting for Obama. These people were Obama supporters and even some staffers who, at times, would get a bit carried away with their praise for Obama. 

For these people, Obama is the answer. Literally. They have so much faith in him that they believe he is going to magically solve all the problems that plague this nation. He will wave his magic wand and send gas down to $1.50 a gallon and with his upward wave he will launch the market back up to 13,000 points. On top of that, Obama will have this magical solution to the quagmire in Iraq. Not only will we pull the troops out, but Iraq and the Middle East won't slide into a massive war. All terrorist attacks will cease. The nations of the world will see our valiant comeback and fall in behind us in lockstep with a new American foreign policy. 

I started to feel that by working for the Obama campaign I was supporting this deranged following and felt very uncomfortable with it. I would equate some of the faith people have put in this man to faith put in a god. No, that doesn't make him the anti-Christ, but it was enough to make me stop and realize, once again, that the change many people want is only going to come from knowing and loving Jesus. 

I don't necessarily think that a lot of problems in this world can't be helped/solved by an Obama administration, but to exhibit the kind of faith I saw this summer was foolish. It made me sick of politics. It made me sick of our groveling nature as human beings looking for importance, power and fame. It just wasn't pretty.

With that said, I don't at all regret the work I did this summer. I loved it and I would do it again. Seeing how much people believed in Obama didn't make me doubt my own reasons for voting for him. And those reasons have only grown in the last few weeks of this 21-month campaign season.

In one week I will pull the metaphorical lever for Obama. In reality, I will finish the giant arrow pointing to Obama, my ballot will be scanned, I'll head off to work, get home, have dinner and watch the returns. 

Hoping.