President Barack Obama

Its hard to believe, isn't it?

I sat on the couch in my old home on Route 99 in McKean eight years ago after casting my very first vote for President. I voted for Al Gore; and somehow, that night, something seriously changed in my head. I couldn't believe I was seeing Fox call the election for Bush. No matter the legal stuff that followed, that election was really over in my mind that very same night that I saw Fox News call the election for him. I remembered how prosperous things seemed to have been during the Clinton administration; how could anyone not vote in Al Gore?

It was hard to believe.

Four years later, I voted again, this time in downtown Erie. First time hitting the polls with a computer, as most of us were, and once again, I voted for the guy who lost. Looking back, I can understand why John Kerry lost; the devil you know is better than the devil you don't. Bush seemed like he was screwing things up and didn't care. He got voted back in by even more votes this time.

It was hard to believe.

Nearly two years ago, I met a woman who would completely change my life; give me the strength and the hope that I could really truly be something without resting on my laurels of being a "smart kid in high school". She is everything to me, everything I wish I could be, everything that I wish everyone could be. Someone that I always have fun with, and someone that I knew from the very first moments together that I would never ever stray from. I never thought I'd meet someone who was truly great.

It was hard to believe.

This morning, I woke up at 7 am and walked to the polls with her, this time four blocks away at a Methodist Church. Only person in front of me was Amanda. And I cast my vote for a man that people very close to me refused to take seriously because of various reasons that I am ashamed to even re-type (so I won't, even though I really want to). I never felt more enlightened about a person that I felt so strongly could lead our country, not in the RIGHT direction, but in a BETTER direction than its gone.

Tonight, I watched this man speak for the first time as the President-Elect of this great country. His speeches sticky with beautiful patriotic goodness; the camera catching Jesse Jackson and Oprah Winfrey, along with lots of 'ordinary Joes', crying. To think that someone of minority descent could bring so many people together; that he could win over voters in states that haven't elected a Democratic candidate since before the "I Have A Dream" speech.

It was hard to believe.

But tonight, more than ever in my life, I believe that things are finally going to be set in the right direction. I have faith in my fellow people that want this change. I, quite honestly, have bounced the idea around about politics before personally...and who knows. Makes you wonder what you can really do.

The man is incredibly inspiring.

President Barack Obama.

It is hard to believe.

But its true.