This Political Season

I've written on virtually every topic imaginable on these pages: life, death, cancer, music, Michigan football, running, triathlon and the New York Yankeees.

The one topic I haven't even touched upon, however, is politics. It's not that I am not interested; I follow politics avidly, especially during election seasons. And as a communications professional, I feel it's almost imperative to observe, and frankly, sometimes learn, from politicians. They are the consummate communicators, and in my viewpoint, they are all first and foremost in the business of selling themselves. But I'm not interested in delving too deeply into the subject for the purposes of this blog.

All that being said, we are entering the deep phases of this election cycle, and we've gotten to the point where it's become nearly 24/7. With that, I've surveyed the field carefully and listened to their respective positions and messages. And so without getting into a long diatribe on the subject, and for the purposes of relative brevity, I must say that Barack Obama is my guy.

I'm fortunate to have met him a few times when I lived in Chicago and I thought he was a decent, earnest, thoughtful guy then and I think the same holds true today. Without being over dramatic, he is inspirational and to me, represents hope and that is what I think the nation needs right now. Yes, he's young and perhaps inexperienced, but as the pundits put it, look where experience has gotten us. So .. Barack Obama for President.

I liked Bill back in the day; I thought personal foibles aside, he was a terrific president but that was then and this is now and I will confess to having a bit of Clinton fatigue. I also think that he hasn't exactly carried himself in the most dignified manner the past few weeks.

So ... to borrow a phrase the junior Senator from the Great State of Illinois, I'm for Change.

After Barack, you'll probably be surprised at my second favorite candidate: John McCain. If it comes down to Barack vs. McCain, I personally will have a tough choice to make and can go either way, but as of this moment, I'm again probably leaning towards Barack.

McCain is a good man though and I very much respect the fact that he's slightly off the reservation and not beholden to any particular special interest. Frankly, I think they would both make good President's.

So, that's my take on politics.

In other news, as soon as I am finished with this post I intend to go sign up for this. Yikes. A 50 miler in May is pretty daunting, but we need to do it to qualify for the hundo in the Fall. So, my season is looking like 50k in early March, 50 miler in may and 100 miler in October, with a few Olympic distance triathlons thrown in to keep it real. Should be an interesting season. I'm stoked that this will be my first season in two years that is uninterrupted by cancer treatments (knock on wood) and the hundo will be my biggest challenge since Ironman back in '99. My boy Payro will be running and hopefully Wiley too and all you Chicago folks are welcome to come out and crew.

Word.