Pigspittle, Ohio

It’s Feb. 5 and it’s thundering and lightning outside this morning. A portentous start for a day of politcos and pundits, even though the returns won’t come in until this evening. I will have to find something to preoccupy me, like cleaning the bathroom or exercising, something physical to take my attention and anxiety away from the primaries. I’m a hopeless junkie.

For anyone who is reading and still can’t decide who to vote for, let me give you 10 reasons to vote for Obama:

1. He’s got a wry sense of humor, which always signals great intelligence.
2. He brings out the best in Andrew Sullivan’s writing.
3. He’s neither Baby Boomer nor Gen Xer, which means he’s part of that fringe generation, like me and my friends.
4. He eschews partisan politics—one of the most important qualities that other campaigns just don’t get. I never thought I’d quote Tucker Carlson, but as he said, “Obama doesn’t hate me.”
5. The book he’d take with him to the White House is Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals. Telling insight into the kind of cabinet he would build.
6. I’m confident that if both my parents were alive today, they would be voting for him, marking the first time they ever agreed on anything.
7. He is, perhaps, the greatest orator of our time. Great orators have great minds. Look at history: Lincoln, Roosevelt, Churchill, Kennedy.
8. He was against the war from the beginning, rejecting political convenience in favor of conscience.
9. He is not a Bush or a Clinton.
10. He comes not from a town called Hope but a spirit called Hope.

If you live in a primary state today, go vote. Make history.