It's Obama Time

An elderly African-American woman stopped me from leaving Sizzler Sunday night to tell me, "I love your button." She pointed to the tiny button I had on my shirt, one which read, "Veterans for Obama."

I'm not the usual person to be wearing a pin like that. I'm older. I have gray hair. I am not as liberal as many in the Bay Area. And I'm a veteran. But then again, I'm a woman and I'm rational -- that kind of skews me toward Obama.

I wore my Obama t-shirt today. It's big and colorful, and I knew I might get some stares as I made my way through Oakland doing my chores today.

Interesting debate last night. I think the analysts I listened to thought that it was mostly a draw, but the viewers as measured by the polls clearly thought Obama won. I see it both ways. I thought McCain got in some good points. But I thought Obama was calm and reassuring, and had a plan. McCain had a new plan which called for buying up distressed mortgages; I understand some of his conservative base is rather upset about that this morning!

However, I thought Senator Obama's speech in Indianapolis this morning, most of which I heard on CNN, hit the jackpot!

Early on in his campaign, when Sen. Obama was spouting Yes We Can platitudes and lifting younger people into the political arena with hope, I wanted more of a plan. Now that he's telling us his plans, I find myself wanting more reassurance, more hope. I wanted to be lifted. I mean, my God! These are tough times! His speech this morning gave both.

I love the CNN analysts. I even love the Republican ones. They're erudite, and rational, and a bit worried right now. My favorite analysts (some Democrat, some undeclared) are John King with his electoral map, David Gergen, and Donna Brazile. Did you see Brazile wince when somebody brought up the Gore misstep in his debate with Bush (when he sighed visibly)? Funny and tragic.

Gergen said last night that a 6-point lead in the polls by Obama may not be enough, and I was definitely listening. He talked about the "Bradley Effect" without naming it, a phenomenon where people poll one way but get into the privacy of their little voting booths and vote another way. Tom Bradley was going for governor of California after 8 years as Mayor of Los Angeles, and was ahead (polling at 65%) in the polls -- he lost that election. And it's all because of race, according to Gergen: some people can't stand to see a black man in the highest office in the land even though they won't admit to pollsters what they really feel.

We'll see. It's one of the most important elections of our time. (I would include Proposition 8 on the California ballot among them.) It's certainly very exciting. I'm glued to the TV set every day, every night.

As I was finishing my breakfast/lunch today at the Montclair Egg Kitchen, the waitress, a young Hispanic woman, pointed to my t-shirt and said, "That's Obama?" Yes, I replied. "Very pretty. Very colorful."

Colorful is right.