Those who know me well, know that I have never particularly fit into the Democratic Party. After nearly two decades as a paid advocate for ending the death penalty, I still remember those 1992 Clinton campaign ads about being a different kind of Democrat, tough on crime, pro-death penalty. My father, a committed Republican, put a voter registration form in my hand on my eighteenth birthday. I cast my only GOP vote for my dad for county office in Upstate New York years ago. For years I lived in third party self-exile. It took an extraordinarily honest, progressive 2006 Democratic candidate for County Executive to get me to finally register Democrat, like the vast majority of voters in my current home of Prince George's County, Maryland. This year, at age 44, I cast my very first presidential primary vote for Obama.

But to really share why I voted for Obama, I need to tell you a story about my eight-year-old son Guthrie.

Public school is a challenge to my tough, creative, kinetic younger son. This school year started out difficult; he was twice evicted from music class. Days later his father found a yet-to-be-colored-in handout with the outline of an American flag crumpled under the family computer table. When asked about it, Guthrie complained about having to sing "God Bless America" too much in music class. He also protested having to recite the daily Pledge of Allegiance.