Obama Support Letter to Superdelegates

This is a letter I submitted on www.barackobama.com in support of his campaign on February 17th 2008.

I was first exposed to Senator Obama while reading Charles Barkley’s national bestseller Who’s Afraid Of A Large Black Man? At this point I had heard of Senator Obama as he began his quest for the Presidency but I really knew nothing about him. While reading Barkley’s interview with Obama I was immediately drawn into his story, from his upbringing to his education, then leading to his upstart into politics. The book is a frank and open discussion about the racial and economic divide in America as maybe only Charles Barkley could incite. It simply is the most insightful and influential piece I have read in my short 29 years on this planet and I feel it should be embedded in the curriculum of or educational system.

Barack Obama is the first political figure I have ever been enamored with. Sadly in my eleven years of voting eligibility I have only voted once and that was when I first turned 18. Being a Canadian who has lived on the border with Detroit Michigan my whole life my knowledge base has been dominated by an American media influence. I know much more about Michigan and U.S. politics than that of my own country. I couldn’t turn away from the television on Super Tuesday and only wished I could have had some kind of say in the matter. As a Canadian I feel so very helpless, I cannot vote, I can’t even make a campaign donation so I’m taking this opportunity to plea to you that indeed this election not only effects the United States of America but that of the entire World!

It is beyond time for overwhelming change in the western hemisphere, political, environmental, and economical. Even in 2008 I believe civil rights and equality have not yet been obtained. Although great strides have been made true equality is still far away often lost on the horizon. As a person with a disability it would be a grave error of me to compare the struggles of persons with a disability to that of the struggles of African Americans in North American history. However what both groups have shared at one point or another is our second class citizenship, access to equal opportunities to succeed and little to no expectations placed on us by a majority of our society. It is time for a civil rights activist to sit in the White House. It is time for change!

If I could trade my rights to vote in Canada to vote for Senator Obama in these primaries and upcoming Presidential election I would, but I cannot. You have a say in the matter and I only hope you ache for a real change as much as I do. If nothing else Senator Obama has inspired me to no longer sit by in the dark as the politics of my own country pass me by. I cringe every time I think of an American citizen not making their voice heard in this upcoming election. I will no longer make the same mistake! I will educate myself on Canadian issues, policy and candidates and make an educated decision as an upcoming federal election looms. I can only dream that we will have a potential leader worth electing as fit for the task as I feel Barack Obama is fit to be the leader of the Free World.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely

Jeff May
www.jeffmay.ca