Mission Accomplished ... well almost.

Fifteen months after officially announcing his candidacy, Barack Obama is now the presumptive nominee for the Democratic party. Hillary is going to be withdrawing from the race on Saturday and we can then officially turn our attention to defeating Bush, er, I mean, McCain in November. I get them confused sometimes.

After watching Obama's speech in Minnesota on Tuesday, I continue to be inspired. He is a speaker that I look forward to listening to. The word 'hope' has been overused in the campaign, but that is the best word to describe what Obama offers when he speaks.

One of the legacies of FDR was that he was a stabilizing and comforting force during the Great Depression. He calmed the nation and let it be known that we were all in it together and we would get out of it together. That is the feeling I get when I listen to Barack Obama. No matter how dire the economy is or how much I have to pay for gas, I feel that we can work through the problems and America will be a better place when it is done. That is how I want to feel when I listen to my President.

We are 15 months in and have 6 months to go. It can be argued that this was the easy part. The general election process is much different from primaries. There is no splitting of delegates in the general election. It is all or nothing. Losing 49% to 51% might as well be 0% to 100% so every vote is critical.

We have crossed one threshold and now the real fight begins.