Vermont Senator, Susan Bartlett

Town Meeting week is drawing close and we Vermonters are talking about the national election and our Vermont primary. In this past week the question that most of my constituents are asking when they see me, is “Whom are you supporting in the primary?”

I am an Obama supporter. That comes as a surprise to many folks. After all I am a woman in politics and I’ve worked hard to get other women to become politically involved. It’s not difficult to understand why so many folks, especially women, assume that I support Clinton.

Let me tell you why I support Senator Obama. It’s not that I am opposed to the other candidate; I just happen to believe that Senator Obama is what our country needs right now. After years of being fearful and negative, we need a leader who can make us remember that we have been a great country in so many positive ways. And to remind us that it’s past time for us to assume that positive leadership role in the world once again.

I believe that America became the great country that it is because of the ability for an average person to work hard, be responsible and become successful. We have seen generation after generation of American’s take advantage of public education, access to good jobs, access to private capitol and seen these folks build an economy that helped all of our citizens and made America a leader in every sense of the word. Someplace along the past few years, we seem to have lost our way.
We have become afraid. Afraid of terrorist attacks, afraid of not having health care, afraid of what will happen to us as we age, afraid of competition from overseas, afraid for our children and afraid that as individuals we just can’t make it financially. We need a path back to the strength of our positive ways.

We need a leader who can help us remember that the American dream is for all Americans. We need a leader who can inspire us to rekindle our dreams and to create dreams for our country again. We need a leader who can inspire us to unite and make our government work to provide solutions to the problems we face from affordable health care to how we deal with the rest of the world. We need a leader who will help American shine again.

My parents were part of the American dream. My dad came from poverty and he married my mom during WWII in England. They taught me to vote every time I got a chance to vote. They taught me to vote for the person I thought would do the job the best. I’m voting for Senator Obama because I believe he is best suited to lead America back to achieving our American dreams. I’m voting for the person I think is best qualified for the job.

(Photo of Senator Susan Bartlett from senatorsue.org)