January 20th, 2009

I never knew what politics had to do with faith until a few days ago. I came to a realization in a strange bed in South Carolina, 500 miles from home, weary after a day of canvassing. What was I thinking coming down here to walk through mud and rain for a man I’d never met?

It was an act of faith really, though not the kind with altars or bibles. Yet, there's definitely prayer. I found myself praying in Mt. Prospect Baptist Church in Rock Hill, South Carolina. How did a faithless wretch like me find myself with the faithful? Two words: Barack Obama.

When I got up in front of all the elegantly dressed worshipers in church, wearing muddy jeans and a sweatshirt, I was surprised to find myself unabashed. I was happy and confident as introduced myself and my fellow volunteers to the crowd and spoke for two minutes about Senator Obama. I had never spoken in front of a church before. My voice carried through the church, up into the rafters, and hopefully to a few voters’ ears.

I joked with them about my silly attire, lamenting the red southern mud that we trudged through to knock on doors. They laughed and smiled, bemused by this pudgy Latino stumping for a candidate they couldn't definitively say was black. They were reluctant, but opening up and I understood because I felt the same way.

I didn’t realize I needed Barack Obama until I realized it. I didn’t think I needed change until he told me to imagine it and then it would be. I didn’t see that politics was personal until he showed me it was because when I thought about him as my leader, as our leader, I got chills. I got a feeling of rightness I'd never experienced before. Maybe this is what it feels like to be a sycophant, but then maybe this is what it feels like to have faith, to finally believe.

I’ve been a skeptic my whole life but I'll tell you what - this skeptic stood up in an all African-American Baptist Church and talked about faith. Faith placed in an imperfect man. At the end of the day he is no son of God, nor is he a spirit. Yet I have faith that he can change us and lead us to new places. I'm fascinated by the possibilities for policies and politics, but I'm astounded by the new possibilities of faith.

You have to understand how much of a godless heathen I am, but honest to goodness, hand to God; I prayed that God would grant people the wisdom to see that this man was right for them. I prayed that people would listen and imagine for one second a world without Clintons and Bushes or Republicans and Democrats and think about a world with Americans united in picking up the pieces of a shattered and broken nationality.

I talked about faith for two minutes. I talked about the letter that Senator Obama wrote to the pastors and reverends of churches all over South Carolina explaining his faith and how it made him a better man and how he understood these people better because of his faith. I believe he does. I said that his faith would allow him to connect with people all over this country. I believe it will because I understand faith a little bit better now.

I have to believe or I wouldn't have gone to New Hampshire or to South Carolina in the dead of winter. I’ve knocked on maybe 500 doors, been bitten by a dog, been yelled and cursed at, frozen and thawed, soaked, and for what? I believe I've taken personal responsibility to the future of my country by exhorting others to have faith - to have faith not in miracles, but in something miraculous. Not in saviors, but in someone that could help us save ourselves. Why bicker when we can talk? Why argue when we can listen? Why stagnate with the same old politics when we have something fresh and new and untainted right under our noses? Really - why be cynical when its so empowering and freeing to have faith?

This was not personal for me three weeks ago, it is now. In became personal in an old stone home in Gilmanton and a street corner at 7am in Tillton and dusk in Barnstead and rainy days in Chester and a cold morning in church in Rock Hill. I have spoken to so many people who are so tired of politics that it strains them to lift their eyes and see what's happening.

Something’s happening.

We are raising our heads from a dry oasis, breathing new air, and drinking clear water. Americans are waking up slowly to new possibilities. We'll all come around, hopefully by Election Day, but if not at least by 2012 or 2016. I can be patient because I know Barack Obama will be.

Americans are seeing finally, as I have seen that we are on the brink of something historic. Finally after years of an America in furious drift, showy with economic brilliance then mired in stagnation, wallowing in dirty politics followed by worse, there is a chance that next January 20th we will raise our heads high and be proud again to be Americans. We just have to have faith. I do.

That's why I stood up in church on a chilly Sunday in January 2008 and said, at ease, head held high, "Hello my name is Anthony Elmo and I am here on behalf of Senator Barack Obama".

You got to have faith.