Barack Obama Means Change

America has always been a nation of change. From conception up to the point at which I sit now and write these words, America has always prided itself on being able to change when it had to. The time for a new round of change has come. The presidency of George W. Bush has basically put this nation on its knees and we're in desperate need of mending. Now I'll willingly admit that the change that is needed will most likely take a couple of generations to be complete and worthwhile, but the seeds have to be planted now. If we don't begin the change now, then we'll have to wait even longer for the effects of change to be noticed.

Basically the Republican side of the primary race has to be ignored. The party of George Bush cannot and, most likely, will not be the vehicle of change. As an informed and ultimately disenfranchised public we must only pay attention to the other side, because despite any shortcomings, the Democratic party is the party that will deliver the seeds of our change. The Democratic side of the race offers two chances for change in America. We have a viable African American candidate and a viable female candidate for the presidency coming from that side of the party.

Hilary Clinton, despite her gender, doesn't actually represent any change. She is part of the proverbial old guard. Her politics are the politics of the Twentieth Century. Her campaign speaks both of experience and of change, essentially that Hilary Clinton has the experience to change things. In reality it can't work. Experience is important, but when the experience one holds is born from the kind that has made the country stagnant, it will do little to deliver the seeds of change that America needs.

Barack Obama is definitely the change we need in America. There has never before been a viable African American candidate for the presidency in this country. That is where our change will come from. Senator Obama represents a breaking from the most terrible part of our country's history. No, Senator Obama cannot change the presidency from being viewed as an all boy's club, but he can break the white hegemony. Breaking the white hegemony in America is where our nations's change can and will begin.

So as each state heads to the polls to cast votes for the candidate of their choice, we must remember change. We cannot look on those of the old guard as being vehicles for change, because they never will be. Barack Obama is our nation's greatest hope in dark times. He's not just paying lip service to change, he's offering a clear agenda on how to start the change. We must allow that change to happen and it happens with Senator Obama.