I think the negative attacks are working...

I really do. I think, as a country, we are still so divided and so angry that when someone like McCain tries to tap into our frustration, he has little trouble doing it.

We're also very skeptical, with good reason. Mark Foley, Coingate, Ted Stevens, Tom Delay, Nixon...the list is endless. At every turn, we expect our politicans and leaders to disappoint us and when they do, we throw up our hands and say: forget it! it doesn't matter anyway!

I think it does matter. I watched the 2004 Keynote Address Obama made with my mom. We sat in her kitchen, watching on the small 13 inch screen TV and we both cried. We were so overcome with emotion, thinking: wow. THIS is possible.

We both were convinced by Obama that it doesn't have to be about egos and favors, that politics can be about doing things that are fair and just. We don't have to accept the status quo and say: well, they have more money. they have more power. they will win anyway.

Instead, we can make a REAL decision this year with our heads and our hearts.

I heard someone on Fox News say that Obama supporters are like cultists -- that they just believe whatever he tells us.

Guess what? McCain supporters do the same thing. You believe what he says about his committment to keep us safe, to not give up in Iraq, that Obama will restribute the wealth.

Here's the thing...I WANT to believe more what Obama says. Its not that I think either one is telling more or less truths than the other. Its that what Obama says is what I want. Elections shouldn't be about what people have done or what they will do -- but what they make YOU do.

I'm not naive. I don't think that politicans can do everything and to claim that they can is setting yourself up for failure.

But what I do think they can do is make me believe in something greater than myself. To help me to understand why the world is the way it is. And to inspire me to want a better life for myself and my family.

That's what Obama does. McCain doesn't tap into that fundamental urge I have to get my life on track and put some good out into the world.

McCain doesn't speak to the desire in me to see others around me succeed while I succeed. He doesn't convince me that he will work hard for my rights...because he already has his.

My life isn't awful. Neither is anyone else's who gets to live in the country with the most freedom and prosperity of any other on the planet.

But I think that now is the time to believe that everyone deserves more.

For the child who has HIV -- that they can get their medications and treatment and live a long and healthy life.

For the senior citizen who is living on a fixed income -- that they will see their social security payments increase with inflation and know that they can get their medications without breaking the bank.

For the young person of color who struggles to overcome the shadows of the past -- that they will go to college and get a job and not be thought of as "affirmative action", but as just one of the team.

For the young woman who knows she cannot bring a baby into this world and protect it, feed it, nuture it and give it a good life -- that she has the choice to do what she believes is best and that we put the faith in her to do that.

For the young immigrant who comes here with hope -- that he can keep his culture and learn American culture without the oppression and hate that exists in other places in the world.

I believe that Barack Obama wants this too. And maybe I'm wrong. Maybe all these months have gone by and I wasn't paying close enough attention or I just blindly believed what I wanted to because Obama is so well spoken and tugs at my heart strings.

But if he spends the next four years tugging at those heart strings, and inspring me to be better, to want more and do everything I can for my fellow man, then he really is the "Commander in Chief" we need.

Mandy for Obama