The Substance of HOPE

Yesterday morning NPR featured a number of Texans who remarked on the Democratic debate held in Houston the night before. I particularly listened to one fellow who accused Barack Obama of repeating the same platitudes hypnosis-style and having no substance to any of his plans for leading the country.
It occurred to me that if I am FOR Obama, I need to be certain there is substance to his plans. While I have followed the broad strokes of his plans, I have not compared them to the competitors line-for-line. In just under an hour of survey this morning, I have found plenty of info out there online that does compare them in just this manner.
Another woman criticized his followers, citing her middle-school lesson plans on the 'bandwagon' type of propoganda.
BTW, it occurs to me that this is one pitfall of being a charismatic candidate. You get accused of enchanting the masses with your charisma, so that the plans for leadership you have painstakingly laid out, are totally ignored.
So in mentioning two people who were critical of Obama, I may have painted a picture of criticism of him. There were others who were critical of Hillary as well -- she is not, however, the topic of this post.
I am proud to say I was FOR OBAMA early on, when I read his book, The Audacity of Hope, in January of last year. (The book was my birthday present.) I had downloaded his keynote speech to the 04 Democratic convention over a year ago, and I listen to it on my iPod sometimes to learn more about effective public speaking. This speech is available for free on iTunes. I clearly remember the evening DH and I were watching that convention. BO (wish he had better initials) took the stand, said 2 sentences, and I turned to DH in amazement. "Who IS this guy?" I asked.
Little One stands proudly for Obama. One of her key communication devices, Instant Messaging on AOL, wears the slogan, Obama for Prez. This is where most 12 and 13 year olds have song titles or slang phrases. One of her conservative classmates challenged her: Why are you for Obama? She replied in typical 12 year old maturity: "I am igging you."
Today we are going to explore Obama's platform. We BOTH need to be sure of who we are supporting, so that when we are challenged, we don't "ig" anyone. We can share the HOPE of this country's future.