Obama

Obama is going to be president...and that's a really big deal. For the first time in 40 years, we have a presidential candidate that is giving us hope instead of despair; a candidate who is getting young people to vote; a candidate who speaks his mind even when the ideas he espouses might be unpopular. Barack Obama is an anachronism. He is a throw back to a simpler time when believing in something was enough, and having the courage of your convictions made you stand out from the crowd. Lately that type of courage has been mocked, but no more.  Obama is also a breath of fresh air in that for the first time in decades we have a presidential candidate who is not an anti-intellectual. I'm not saying we haven't had smart presidents, surely we have, but they have generally tried to hide their intelligence under a folksy guise. Everybody wants to be the cool guy at the barbecue rather than the nerdy guy in the study hall. Obama may not be a brilliant intellectual, but he values them. He values science and scientists and that is going to make a big difference for all of us.

Oh yeah, he's black. The United States has chosen a Black man to run for president. Don't forget to tell your kids what is what like when it happened for the first time, because they and their kids will be reading about it in years to come.