Yes we can.

Regular readers may recall the nadir of this blog, a time when I gave up hope. I had been made hard and cynical by six years of George Bush, a Republican Congress who excelled in nothing more than looting our country's treasure and birthright, and a media, smug and complacent, covering the news the way pigeons cover the statues in the park.

I asked you not to vote. I suggested it was a sucker's game, a way to keep us sheep, with the false illusion that we held our own destiny.

I believe, I hope, I was wrong. In two days, those who live in Super Tuesday states will have an opportunity to light a new way for the nation and once again make us a place of optimism instead of fear, and courage instead of cowardly suspicion and self-entitlement.

We live in a dangerous world, it's true, but we don't defeat our enemy by becoming more like them. We defeat our enemy by being better than them, by holding fast to the principles of our fathers - freedom, justice, duty, honor and sacrifice.

I believe that Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy and yes, even Ronald Reagan transformed this nation with a message of optimism. Armed with this optimism, Americans can do anything. United after 9/11, we would even now be freeing ourselves from the bondage of oil, we would have sacrificed to make this nation economically strong, and we would have enlisted to vanquish our enemies. But because we had no leadership there was no call to duty, to sacrifice. And we squandered this opportunity as callously as we've squandered our children's lives and fortune.

Today, and I don't say this lightly, I believe I have seen a man who can bring us real change, real leadership, and real opportunity. You policy geeks can learn about his ideas at his web site, but it's not the details of policy that define a leader, it's his vision. It's his call to our better natures. And if any of the things Obama says ring true with your life, and he articulates for you our common destination, I ask you to do something I urged you not to do in 2006.

I ask you to vote.

We can reverse the disastrous course we've been on for almost eight years. We can bring our nation together to face the awsome challenges. And we can do it without betraying our heritage of a brave and free people. We can do these things and again claim the moral high ground, a country the world can look up to rather than fear, a country that is indeed that shining city on the hill.

I know we can do this.

I know we can.

All we have to say is yes. Yes we can.

I leave you with Jenny's favorite political video of a few years back. Enjoy.