Hi folks!

It is interesting that I am here at all. 

I was born in California in 1965 and grew up in Colorado, the youngest of that period's anti-war protester generation.  My family moved to Canada in 1978 and I wrapped myself in the far-left flag for years.  However, for more than ten years I have publicly argued against the Liberal movement and voted a fairly consistent right-of-center ticket.

In the early 1990s I spent a great deal of time arguing politics on Usenet and began a transition away from my peer group into a middle-land I have occupied since.  Debating against holocaust deniers and white supremacists, I found myself being attacked as well by self-identified minority leaders, feminists and others of similar stripe - because I would not agree that "only white men can be racists and sexists", nor that we should work to silence those we disagree with (however heinous their words), nor that reversing roles in inequality equations was desirable.  White supremacist groups tracked down my work address and sent me physical hate mail, while simultaneously I was publicly ridiculed by those claiming to support justice and equality under the banner of liberalism.

At the same time, I decided to volunteer at the local cable TV station in Toronto.  For five years I worked on the provincial opposition leaders' monthly shows: the Conservative leader (Mike Harris, later Premier of Ontario) and Liberal leader Lynn McLeod.   We had the same crew on Mike's show for 60 consecutive shows (Torontonian cable TV volunteers not at all being a conservative bunch) - yet I was the only volunteer to do more than 3 shows with Lynn (I did 60, also).  Mike showed up every month with one assistant and I saw him have actual conversations with guests with opposing views.  Lynn showed up with twelve self-important followers who so insulted the volunteers that they almost all never returned.  During this time I invented one of the first Internet firewalls and spent a great deal of time speaking to groups, businesses and governments, and in my spare time crewed TV shows for fun. With my long hair and volunteer position I seemed to fade into the background on the Lynn McLeod set - none of the followers ever learned my name, and Lynn's primary assistant Dave so disdained my existence that he uttered these words as he led a guest onto the set, within five feet of me: "We do most of this work ourselves, the rest of these people are volunteers and flubs" (Michael White, accomplished technical producer, quit due to that). In 1995 as I flew back from Ottawa after an energizing meeting with the Ministry of Defense I related this entire story in great detail to my seat-mate and, when finished, asked which party he was with. He was the federal Liberal Justice Minister.

My point is that my support for Barack Obama is not an endorsement for what the Liberal movement in the US or elsewhere has become - it is an endorsement of the man himself.  It is my strongest belief (as iteratively successful CEO and team leader) that the most important aspect of leadership is the ability to inspire and motivate.  There are relatively few leaders in business and many fewer in politics who I believe are truly great motivators, most leading politicians I would not send on a sales call.  Barack is definitively on my list of great motivators.

It is my hope that Mr. Obama is elected our next president. I believe his leadership will provide the motivation both domestically and internationally that will allow the country and the world to make the steps forward we are so capable of making.

It is also my hope that this period of Democratic leadership will help to purge the global left of the entitled condescension and ennui that has become its downfall.  Barack's words and Michelle Obama's aggressive "This change means *you* have to change!" message give me reason to believe that hope is not unfounded.

-chris