I'm in a red state, but I'd love to be his gay friend...

When I was in the seventh grade, our English department forced the entire school to enter some essay contest run by the local Optimists Club. The title, and only real direction we were given in crafting our mandatory essays, was "Optimism: The Right Stuff." I found nothing more absurd than forcing kids to discuss optimism in a school wide-contest. Optimism, despite conventional thinking, is a doctrine that this is the best possible world, to put as best a face on a situation as possible. You may have guessed, but I was a cynical kid. Weltschmerz. I thought blind optimism was unconstructive and naive. You have to take the good with the bad, accept them both for what they are, and work toward improving the whole lot of it. That's what I wrote about and needless to say it was a bit too controversial for The Optimist Club. I was not a finalist. We were forced as a school to watch those who did make the finals deliver their nominated speeches. It was a seemingly endless litany of moronic speeches about being positive in the face of all adversity, as if the emotional human experience was something to be ashamed of. I reject that.

This morning I woke up trying to decide what I should blog about; what great injustice has gripped my weary mind and stuck something long and slender in my craw? Being as how I've been on "all convention all the time" mode, I all the world's problems, all the country's backward policies and horrible mistakes seem almost palatable. The convention has given me a sense of optimism I have not felt for quite awhile. I've tried to convince myself that good people were out there working for the good of the country, but in reality it was very difficult to believe for an extended amount of time. By these last few days, I've been able to see those people. From the women of the Senate to Al Gore to Mrs. Heinz Kerry, I've seen some real Democratic spitfire on display. All this positive energy culminated in what everyone is talking about today - Barack Obama's keynote address.

Mr. Obama, the state senator from Chicago who is running for the U.S. Senate, delivered a masterful speech last night to a very energized crowd. This man's speech was filled with optimism and inclusiveness and equality for everyone:

"The pundits like to slice and dice our country into red states and blue states; red states for Republicans, blue states for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states. We coach Little League in the blue states and have gay friends in the red states. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the Stars and Stripes, all of us defending the United States of America."

I implore you to read his entire speech. It will give you chills and make you tear-up. This one's going places within this party. It seemed all the pundits were ready for Obama to run for President right here and now. He's got a long way to go before he can get to that level obviously, but I guarantee this man is going to get there one day. He's fast on his way to a landslide in the Illinois Senate election, which will make him the only black senator in Washington. He's a fresh voice who embodies the ideals of the Democratic party, the next generation of this country's leaders. Pay attention. This guy's the real deal. He's my kind of optimist.