Voting our gut in Tuesday's primary

It is time for a new generation of leadership, and that is why I will be voting with my gut in Tuesday's presidential primary -- for Barack Obama.

My first presidential campaign was for John F. Kennedy. In his day he stood for a new generation of leadership and young people like myself rallied around him as representing the way forward in those difficult yet promising times. It was a vote from our guts for hope in America's future.

We stand now at the end of the disastrous two-term Bush presidency. The economy is coming unglued. Our young men and women are pouring out their lives in poorly planned and executed foreign wars. All of us have suffered as the rich have profited at our expense.

Some raise the argument of inexperience, as former President Truman did when John F. Kennedy had the guts to challenge the establishment with only a few years in the Senate under his belt. Those with better memories remembered that Harry Truman himself had no experience when he was thrust into the presidency on the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

As anyone who has been following the debates between the candidates already knows, the differences in policy between them is very slight and can certainly be adjusted when a Democratic president is in office.

But getting there is the hard part.

And I think that Barack Obama holds out the promise of electability better than a Clinton candidacy which is already perceived as a campaign for the co-presidency, in which Bill will get another four years in the White House -- the dream team for which Republicans salivate.

For ourselves, for our kids, and for a better future for our country, I urge you to go with your gut and vote for a new generation of leadership.

Vote for Barack Obama.

-- Dan Damon

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