Today is the Day - VOTE!

Damn, where ya been DP?

I guess you could say I've been in a secure undisclosed location, loosely translated as working my behind off and not really having many spare moments for blogging or anything else. But I couldn't let this day go by because it's Election Day.

This is the day I've been waiting for since watching incredulously while John Kerry conceded while hundreds, maybe thousands of people were still waiting in line to cast their votes in Ohio. As bad as that day was, that election did spawn Howard Dean and the 50 state strategy which has put states into play all around the country that the Democrats and Progressives typically just abandoned. That national strategy provided the springboard for the phenomenal campaign of Barack Obama, and now we're on the verge of history.

We've all been waiting, and the tension is like the last two minutes of the big game; your team is up by a field goal and the question is can your defense hold? Well, we're about to see.

I exercised my right to vote last Friday in Ft. Bend County Texas, so I can officially admonish everyone else to get out there and vote. Personally I hope more of you vote for Barack Obama than for John McCain because hey, I'm pretty much fed up with being broke and watching the country go to hell in a handbasket under Republican "leadership." That's plenty enough reason for me to vote Democratic. Not to mention the Democratic candidate seems smarter, has a better plan, and doesn't seem to attract the most vile element of the American electorate like the other side does.

But there's the added bonus of the possibility of the first African-American President being elected, and that makes me very proud, almost to the point of giddy. I know that's not a position that everyone is comfortable with, but I can't help that. I feel the way I feel, and why shouldn't Black folks be proud at such a historically significant moment? Regardless of the outcome, this is another chapter in the amazing story that is Black folks in America.

My mother passed away in July. My Dad passed in 2001. My younger brother, grandparents, and a whole bunch of other people did not live to see even the possibility of this day. But I have, and the joy I'm sure I'll feel if Barack Obama pulls this thing off will be compounded by the fact that so many others who worked tirelessly and anonymously for this day to arrive, did not have a chance to to see it come to pass. So I'll be celebrating for the multitudes of those who came before me and helped pave this road to where we are now.

Or I might be grieving for those same multitudes, but I don't want to think about that right now.

So go vote. Preferably for Barack Obama and all of his down-ticket Democratic buddies, but exercise your right whoever your choice is. Too many people of all races fought, marched, struggled, and died for anyone in this country to be apathetic. And the razor thin results of 2000 and 2004 should dispel any notion that your vote doesn't matter.