I snagged this photo from Tony’s site tonight, but I think it sums up a few of the conversations I had today with a few people:

That picture is a shot of Barack Obama, one of the major contenders for the US presidency next year, giving a speech to 75,000 people in Oregon recently. It is, as Tony pointed out, rather inspiring.

For the most part, I hate politics, and I rarely get involved. Some would obviously say, probably rightly so, that it makes me liable for problems in government, should things go wrong. But truthfully, I have only voted once, mainly because when presented with all the choices, I just find that there hasn’t been anyone I could possibly vote for in good conscience.

If I were an American, and had just endured eight years of misery at the hands of George Bush (a person who ultimately started a war which most of the world now feels was completely unjust and for reasons other than those originally stated), I would most certainly be standing in line next year to cast my vote for Barack Obama. To me, he represents something lacking in most politicians these days — quite simply, a moral conscience and a genuine desire to bring about change for the better. When he talks, I don’t feel the influence of big business, or hear the sound of years of preordained policies carried along with his voice. I only hear a passionate individual who loves his country, and is upset with its current state.

John F. Kennedy’s Berlin Speech, 1963, from here

While watching Obama on television, or reading excerpts from his speeches, I am lately reminded of the late John F. Kennedy, another young politician who represented a major change in politics. At the time, he was not only one of the youngest presidents ever elected, but was also the first catholic president if I recall. And while history sometimes looks back on his administration as one that wasn’t entirely remarkable (overlooking the fact he was assassinated), I shudder to think what might have happened had him and Bobby Kennedy not been at the helm during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

I was talking to Dale tonight about global warming, and how whether or not we believed there was a shift in the fundamental beliefs of most people, and an honest effort to right the situation. And while we both agreed that people have changed and that the tide is turning, we both agreed that what the world lacks are true leaders, people who will push the machinery of change forward, despite the obvious economic and politic penalties (even those that are purely perceived). And while Al Gore would have been an obvious person to push the environment element forward, I am hopeful that Obama will do the same should be be elected.

We are, quite simply, on the brink of self-destruction as a species. Few scientists despute this fact, and any doubt seems to rest only in the minds of politicians. Global warming is set to completely decimate this planet, probably far sooner than most people realize, unless we all stand together, not just as people within countries, but as a global community. It can happen, and I would like to think it will happen, but to pull it off, there needs to be leaders willing to step up, sever corporate ties, and pull people together.