Where I grew up in rural Idaho, there were no black people.  Not to say it was a completely homogenous community, as there were hispanics, Japanese, whites, and sub-cultures such as the Basques, but there were no African-Americans.  All I knew about black people, I learned from the television, where, in the typical TV show, black actors played gangsters, thugs, criminals and other negative roles.  Outside of fiction, black people were not visible in the high offices of the land and, even in real life, if they were on TV, it was usually in a context of violence of some sort.  So, my perception of black people was more than a bit skewed.

The election of Barack Obama as President of the United States of America means that my daughter will grow up in a very different world with a very different view.  She will see that the highest office in the land is occupied by a black man and she will see that, regardless of the color of our skin, we can all achieve what we set out to achieve if we work hard enough.  She will see a world in which blacks can achieve every bit as much as whites, and that will give her a perspective of black people that I didn’t have growing up.

As a result, I think that President Obama will go a long way to improving race relations in our country.

None of these reasons played into my decision to vote for Obama.  I described in my previous post why I voted for him.  And I’m sure that some people voted for him for exactly these reasons.  But, I also think this is an important consequence of his election, and I am hopeful for the future of our country.

I voted for Barack Obama because I think that I am better off if the nation as a whole is better off.  My life will be better if my neighbor has access to education, has adequate health care, and has the opportunity to follow their dreams.  If all of our lives are improved, my life will be improved, and my daughter’s future will be brighter. I think that a “me first” attitude, that looks out only for my own immediate self interests at the expense of those around me, leads to a society that is overall worse off.  By focusing on “us” instead of “me”, our country will be a place where people can aspire to be their best, will have the hope and desire to better themselves, and will make society better, safer, and more secure for me and all Americans.

This isn’t to say that I think people should be given a free ride, should be given handouts without effort.  I think people should try to improve their lot in life, they should take responsibility for their situation.  However, I also recognize that, whether due to bad judgement or just plain misfortune, not all people succeed and that some, even with the best of intentions, will fail.  Also, some just never get the opportunity, due to life circumstances, to go to school, to get the education they need to get a better job.  And, I think, that if we help those people better themselves, society as a whole will be better for it.

I also think that Obama is an intellectually curious man, a man who thinks about things, dwells on them, looks at multiple sides before forming an opinion.  He is a man to whom the world is not black and white, but is various shades of grey.  I think he is a man that will look at the available evidence before acting, he will not rely upon his intuition, which so often leads us astray.  He is a man who will surround himself with knowledgable people, people who know more than he does about the important topics of the day.  He will listen to those people and make informed decisions after weighing the available evidence.

I don’t expect that Obama will succeed at all that he has promised — just as all politicians promise more than they can deliver in an effort to get elected, so did he.  But, I think he will point us in the right direction, in terms of energy security, basic research, improving infrastructure, protecting civil liberties, and providing a nominal amount of health care to the majority of Americans, to name a few.  These are issues that are important to me personally, but also that I think are vital for the health of our nation.  If we neglect these issues, our country will lose its position as an important world player.  I think Obama will correct course and help us regain our standing in the world and earn back the respect of the rest of the world.

Finally, I am impressed that Obama is a self-made man.  He worked for everything he has, he has earned it by his own effort.  It wasn’t given to him because of who his family was.  He didn’t get any special favors.  He did it all on his own.  He is the embodiment of the American dream, a dream where the son of a foreigner, raised by a single mother, can become President of the United States.  I think that this is something to be admired.

For these reasons, I voted for Barack Obama.

A little while ago, maybe 6 months or so, we got a new coffee maker, a Grind and Brew automatic coffee maker.  The idea is nice: you fill the hopper on top with your beans, select your grind and strength, set the time you want the maker to brew your coffee, and away you go.  Each night, you fill the resevoir with water and clean out the filter.  Pretty simple.  And it is definitely nice to wake up in the morning  to a freshly brewed cup of coffee.

However, I guess the engineers didn’t plan for an idiot of my caliber:  three times now, the latest being on Thursday, I have woken up to a very powerful aroma of coffee.  You might think that is a good thing, to wake up to such a great smell filling the house.  But, for it to be that strong indicates that I have, yet again, forgotten to replace the carafe in the coffee maker.  It is smart enough to have a stopper so that, when the carafe is not in place, it doesn’t let coffee out of the bottom of the filter.  However, that only works for so long, as it doesn’t stop it from filling up the filter.  If you brew enough coffee — more than just a cup or so — the filter fills up and coffee starts pouring out the top, down the side of the maker, onto the counter, down the cabinets, into the drawers (which, conveniently, are where we keep our wash cloths) and onto the floor.  So, instead of waking to a nice pot of coffee, I awoke to a big mess to clean up as I rush off to work. This has happened three times now.  I think Lisa is likely to ban me from using the coffee maker in the future.

The moral: there is always someone more idiotic than the engineers ever account for.

“We the People…”  Is there a written phrase more recognizable, more iconic, than this?  I was recently in DC for a symposium on Energy Security (which, incidentally, was very interesting; I may have to post some of the things I learned from that later).  I’ve been to DC a few times over the last several years — working for a Department of Energy organization draws you to the capitol every once in a while.  In previous visits, I’ve focused on the monuments, since I greatly admire some of the people to whom they are dedicated — Washington, Lincoln, and, especially, my boyhood hero, Jefferson.  This time, however, I decided to check out some of the museums around the Mall.  I’ve been there before, but there is so much to see.  While I checked out the Air and Space Museum and the National Art Gallery, my primary goal was to visit the National Archives, home of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

The Rotunda where all three documents are on display wasn’t overly crowded, but still there was a little wait to get up close to each.  Once I got my turn, I didn’t linger, as I knew what the documents say and it is easier to read them online.  But, just being in the presence of such important history was both humbling and inspiring.  Looking at the Declaration, you can barely pick out the signatures any more — even John Hancock’s signature is barely there.  However, the phrase “We the People” which opens the Constitution is just so iconic, so powerful, it was what stuck with me, what really caught me.  Is there any phrase in the English language that is so recognizable in its written form?  So inspiring?  So defining of an entire nation?

Let me just say that it was truly remarkable to be in the presence of those documents and, in some sense, in the presence of those great men who drafted them.