The last couple days have been very emotional around my house. I wrote an email to a friend that I want to share here.

Over the last several weeks I started to feel maybe Barack’s quiet strength wasn’t going to be enough for me to truly believe he could protect me and this country. I needed to see his strength; I needed to see that he wouldn’t be passive when it really mattered. He showed me that he will have the strength of mind and character to take care of this nation in the right way. I know the Right is trying to paint him as the second coming and of course that is not who is he or wants to be, but this man has just made me believe in my country again. Look, I was raised a staunch Democrat, but I am one of those Reagan Democrats that the political pundits are always talking about; I gave the Republicans a chance to prove to me that they could run this country better; they can’t. I am also a staunch believer in the separation of church and state and when the Republicans made the Church and Christianity a part of the political discourse in this country, it let me know that they are a party that I can’t believe in; I can’t give them a second chance or the benefit of the doubt anymore. I would never “not” vote because I believe it’s a right and a privilege; but in recent years I have not been inspired, I just voted because I believed it was my civic duty to do so. I am now a proud registered Independent and when I go into that booth this November, my heart will be full, my mind will be clear and “I will be voting for Barack Obama not because he is a black man but because he is a brilliant man.”© He may not win, but that’s okay too; I’m just glad I am here and alive to witness this improbable journey/movement.

Okay, I’ll jump down off my soapbox now.

But before I go, I want you to listen to an excerpt from MLK’s last speech.