Great news : Kerry endorses Obama !

It was my deep conviction that John Kerry could endorse no other candidate than Barack Obama and it was only a matter of time when he would do so. But seeing my two favorite American politicians together today in Charleston, SC just made my day!

When I "discovered" the candidate John Kerry four years ago and read about his inspiring life I felt sad that I hadn't known John Kerry before. At the time when he became an activist after returning from Vietnam or when he first came to the US Senate and fought to expose Iran-Contra etc. ... I have to admit that I was a little bit jealous of my American friends who had followed all of John Kerry's carrier and I couldn't hurry enough to read and learn all about him.

Then in the summer of 2004 my daughter Julie and I saw and listened to Barack Obama at the democratic convention and thought: WOW, this guy is amazing! (as certainly tens of thousands of Americans did *g*). The media talked about him as a future candidate for first black American president and my thoughts were that this time I might be able to follow the guy's political carrier from the beginning, something I hadn't been able to do with John Kerry.

Little did I know that not even four years later Barack Obama would be already a candidate for the presidency and would get John Kerry's endorsement. I'm very excited today and hope that Obama stands a chance against Hillary Clinton. I think that in about a month we will know for sure, but for today let me just enjoy my two guys together. :-))

Here are some pictures from the Charleston event :

Link to YouTube video with excerpts of Kerry's speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIcmrTzoPXc

Judging from the gut

When I first followed an American Presidential election closely four years ago, I didn’t know much about American politics and I didn’t really know the candidates. So, watching the Iowa caucuses, I had a look at the candidates and followed my feeling by choosing one. It turned out to be John Kerry. I knew nothing about him but his open face, his humble acceptance of his win and his humanity did it for me. (Just as a by-note: My daughter went for the pretty face: John Edwards. But she was only 14 back then, so it’s understandable. *g*) It turned out that my judgment wasn’t that bad when I later learned who John Kerry really was. Well, he didn’t become president but he became someone I see as a friend and always will.

Four years later I know much more about American politics and should do better. But you know what? I’m stilling going from my gut when it comes to take a liking in candidates. Maybe it shouldn’t be that way, but I can’t help it. I saw Barack Obama for the first time at the 2004 Democratic Convention (on TV, of course – I wasn’t there *g*) and I liked him immediately. I still like him very much and I’m happy that he won Iowa. Hillary Clinton seems so cold (as much as I like her husband) and John Edward’s smile so fake that I just can’t warm for one of them. Obama strikes me as intelligent, open, humane and optimistic. A new face for a new century. And I don’t see him as black or white, as male or female, as young or old, but just as a hope-inspiring human being. He speaks to my gut and I feel comfortable about it, even knowing all I know now about political calculation, electability and so on.

And I will shock my readers here even more and say, that I was also not unhappy about Mike Huckabee’s win. Don’t take me wrong. I still would take ANY Democrat over a Republican in the 2008 election, of course! But from all the Republican candidates Huckabee is the one I like a bit. Mitt Romney is a Ken doll, John McCain a broken man who sold his soul, Giuliani the typical hypocrite empty suit. Oh, I know, I shouldn’t like Huckabee! And most of his voters were Evangelical conservatives, a group of Americans I really despise. But again, I can’t help it. I have some sympathy for the man. I saw him first a few years ago on TV on a CNN Health program (nothing political) and I thought he was a nice guy. I realized only later that he was a Republican politician. And for a Republican his speech is humble enough. Maybe he is honest and believes in what he preaches (as an atheist I shouldn’t make the same mistake many religious people make the other way around, and think that all religious people are evil ;-)), maybe he is another hypocrite, only talented enough to have me on. I really don’t know and I’m far from saying that I always get it right.

Anyway, let’s go on to New Hampshire next week and see what happens there. I really hope for Obama to get the nomination, knowing well that a lot of my fellow Kerrycrats on DU don’t share my wish. But John Kerry… is not running, will never be president, as sad at it is. And I think that we have to move on. (Okay, as I’m not American it’s not as personal for me at it is for my friends, I know that).

I just like the feeling to sit back and watch the nomination process somewhat relaxed, as I did as well in 2004. I just “discovered” John Kerry four years ago, but had he run again now, I would have been very anxious and worried for him, hanging on every word he’d say or the journalists would write about him. As I said, and after meeting Kerry a few times and all my American friends who love him too, I see him as a friend and I would take everything concerning him somewhat personal. With Obama, who I like but don’t really know, it’s different. I wish him well but wouldn’t be so devastated if he didn’t become the nominee.

But I still hope with all my heart that, when the election comes in November, America will get her soul back. (It will be hard, I know that. I was born in Germany 15 years after the Second World War ended.) After eight years of Bush horror, the American people really deserve to get some peace and their hopes up again.