Given my particular political persuasion (I tend to listen to conservatives' fever dreams about Obama's clandestine plots to raise an army of gay babies and feminazis who will forcibly submit America to a radical socialist agenda, and think, "If only!"), I've had my share of problems with Obama as a candidate, given that policy-wise he is, in reality, a pretty standard corporate-y centrist.
He has frequently struck me as more opportunistic than courageous. What is often described as his being preternaturally calm sometimes worries me as actually a lack of the passion that seems requisite for an effective presidency. He's not nearly the ally to women or the LGBTQI community I'd like.
But when I walked into the voting booth, I cast my vote for Barack Obama.
Part of it is that I am an economy voter who believes quite genuinely and undeterrably that the economy lies at the root of every single progressive issue. Part of it was the quantifiable change he has already delivered, the sheer thrill at the thought that he may be the first Illinois legislator to occupy the White House since Abraham Lincoln – that's an impressive set of bookends right there.
And part of it is this: my vote counts this time.
During every presidential election in which I could vote, I have either lived in Chicago or in the Chicago suburbs of Northwest Indiana (which is where I currently reside). Illinois is bluer than blue. Indiana is redder than red.
Pardon me. Indiana was redder than red.
In 2004, Bush won Indiana by 21 points. Indiana has never gone for a Democratic in my entire lifetime. It is now, suddenly, a swing state in which Obama is competitive. Every vote is going to matter. My vote is going to matter.
Part of that is, of course, widespread disillusionment with the Republican party on the national level – and an increasingly unpopular Republican governor who may lose his seat to a Democratic challenger who would be the first female governor of the state. But disillusionment is not enough to turn blue a state that was called for Bush by lunchtime last time around. There had to be somewhere for disaffected red voters to go.
And that's Obama's doing. I've seen it up close. These are not merely protest voters – they are voting for Obama.
It is because of him that my vote matters, for the first time.
Giving it to him seemed the only appropriate thank-you. He earned it.