As a 50-year old female, never in my lifetime have I been as touched by a presidential candidate as by Barack Obama, and my sentiment is felt by red, black, brown, white people all over the country ─ people who are ready for a “New America” … an America resurrected by someone who by all accounts, feels like “the chosen one” for scores of disenchanted Americans.

In my lifetime I have watched a cattle call of embarrassing characters fill the White House … liars, actors, adulterers, racists and, total undiagnosed sociopaths who lack any conscience. Afterall, it takes lack of conscience to parade around with the blood shed of war dripping from one's hands, knowing that it was for a cause not worth fighting. And, the chic, in-style persona to quality for First Lady anymore seems to be women who are recovering alcoholics, substance abusers or power hungry socialites who stand by their man like sedated Barbie dolls when Ken’s indiscretions come home to roost. Listening to the cast of clowns who’ve vied for presidency has left me with no interest in voting during many elections ─ to the alarm of my patriotic West Point educated husband. And, then came Obama.

The last time that I witnessed genuine pride and passion inspired by any national leaders was when I was a child. I couldn’t help but get caught in the shower of my grandmother’s emotion when she’d demand silence, as she clung to the words of Godsent messengers like Martin Luther King Jr., and John F. Kennedy. It was the 60’s. When Walter Cronkite announced the assassinations of both leaders, I observed as the color drained from my grandmother’s face. Hope seemed to dissipate in one sound byte. Next, during my formative years, I watched drama, delusion and deceit deck the White House as the Nixons of the world took office. Then, George W. Bush set the United States back a century … molding the most hated and mistrusted nation on the planet.

Obama, without doubt, is a chosen messenger. If genetic scientists were tasked with designing the DNA of the ideal leader to breathe new life into the country, the prototype would be Obama’s mirror image. Though he’s erroneously categorized as Black ─ Obama is a product of a white mother and an African father … the unified face of America, and the world. As other candidates kiss and coo at brown, red and black babies for the cameras, and cunningly campaign to win minority vote with a cadre of people (props) of color surrounding them for commercial appeal ─ there’s only one candidate who upholds “liberty and justice for all” … for he is the embodiment of all of us. That candidate is Barack Obama.

His persona as our leader will help repair America’s tarnished global image overnight. For the first time in American history we have been sent a leader whose mere presence will send the sweeping message that America is attempting to rid its reputation as an empire that has trampled on Native Americans, African-Americans, nations of color, the poor, and the oppressed ─ from sea to shining sea.

And, that reputation is what caused Obama’s zealous fire and brimstone preacher to (wrongly) spout an emotionally charged statement that news media won’t let go of. (Anyone who doesn’t realize that the attack on the World Trade Center and the pentagon were direct results of our oil persecution in the Middle East is either drugged, psychologically challenged or living on life support.)

Quickly becoming the nation’s poster child of unity and racial harmony, in classic gentle style Obama explained why he wouldn’t crucify his pastor any quicker than he’d condemn his white grandmother, whom he says occasionally” made racial slurs. His speech was an humble, honest heartfelt plea for racial healing.

Our nation’s youth and once-passive political observers have been awakened by the moral authenticity of a leader who lures more newcomers to the polls than any time in history. None of the other candidates possess the ability to rouse the young, and to unite people across party lines, across racial and religious lines, and across the waters. Obama, for many of us, is therapeutic at a time when the nation cries out for a big cure-all that McCain and Clinton are not emotionally, spiritually or intellectually equipped to deliver.

While McCain’s lackluster claim to fame is being a P.O.W. (a noble act that was not by choice) , Obama’s self-sacrificing actions have all been of his picking. Obama’s decision to faithfully devote his life to community organization when his Harvard education and brainpower could have cast him anywhere, was a personal choice. McCain didn’t bravely raise his hand and volunteer to spend five-and-a-half years in the Hanoi Hilton. He did however, voluntarily vote against the King holiday, devaluing the legacy of a Nobel Peace Prize winning Good Shepherd who brought hope and healing to America. Today, McCain is able to create a platform for candidacy for president largely due to being the (rich) celebrated victim of circumstance. Anyone who desires to keep the United States at war for 100 years-plus, when he’s not destined to live to see the damage of such decisions -- doesn’t get my sympathy vote. If every prisoner of war, every physically (or mentally) maimed Vietnam vet, or every Accidental Hero got a crack at the presidency … we’d all have some cousin, buddy or wacko neighbor packing up the U-Haul for the scandal-plagued house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

I liked Hillary. Once. I thought that she was deserving of hanging her trousers back in the presidential bedroom, next to Frisky Bill’s. The economy was stable when “they” held office. You could still vacation internationally without being fearful. And, the duo was absolute “grace under fire” when defending Bill’s activities in the Oval Office with Monica Lewinsky  inserting his cigar into parts of Monica’s anatomy where he wasn’t bound to find a lighter. (And by the way Hillary, had that 3 A.M. call come in during Bill’s reign, most likely he wouldn’t have been in your bed to answer. Okay, we’ll give you brownie points for prior experience in manning the red phone.) Indiscretions and past improprieties aside, Hillary & Co. could have possibly weaseled a vote out of me ─ in a choice between two evils, them vs. McCain. Until they started showing the American people that they lack character. That revelation hit home as I’ve watched Hell-Hath–No-Fury-Hillary and Along-for-the-Ride-Bill take cheap shots and backhanded jabs at Obama, as he peacefully dusts himself off ─ refusing to roll around in the dirt with them.

Note, even in Obama’s speech following his Pennsylvania loss (a tight race) he still had the class to congratulate Hillary on her win, as the crowd booed her. Obama stopped the booing, and insisted, “No no, she ran a terrific race.” Clinton in all her brashness doesn’t possess the gentility to recognize any of Obama’s victories ─ or to respect them. And, that’s the core difference in candidates. Moral fiber.

It’s Obama’s diplomatic spirit, ability to unite adversaries, and sensitive and perceptive handling of the issues that has drawn endorsements from even the Clinton’s past supporters and cabinet members. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson said it best when he described Obama as a “once-in-a-lifetime leader that can bring our nation together and restore America's moral leadership in the world.".” Obama is an ambassador of Goodwill — a posturing that rebellious greed-driven “shoot-‘em-up bang-bang” America is not accustomed to.

Alas, the very characteristics that make Obama right for this nation also make him a hard sell ─ for some. Last month my uncle told me that a customer sitting next to him in a small-town North Carolina barber shop loudly slurred, “Looks like the country just may put a nigger in the White House.” A war veteran who lost substantial hearing in his left ear in Vietnam, my uncle still heard him at full volume. As the bigot boldly spewed his guts, he didn’t realize that my uncle is partially-black. Like most of my mother’s siblings, his ethnicity is at first glance indefinable. Without anger, my uncle listened to the boorish comments, smiled, and didn’t utter a word. He instead was pardoning of the man’s ignorance – a willful ignorance that permeates throughout the boonies, boroughs and bowels of a country in need of cleansing.

America, in its current state of crisis, and critical need for global image resuscitation, can’t afford to let a Mayberrish mentality and madcap media frenzies drive its vote. With soldiers dying, the value of the U.S. dollar dropping, jobs diminishing and race relations deteriorating — society as-we-know-it will continue to crumble if incompetence, cronyism, corruption, and “candidates of past yoke” control our future. Shame on America if we make another blunder in selection. The rest of the world is not forgiving of America’s reckless choices.

Regina Lynch-Hudson is a publicist and previously passive political observer who prefers home décor and travel writing. She’ll be spending election day indulging at a spa or engaged in some other calming activity versus going to the polls ─ if McCain and Clinton are all the country can serve up.