Senator Obama has come full circle, returning to his rhetoric of unity, hope, and change.  Why does this resonant with Americans?  Let's examine them one at a time.

Unity.  Americans represent a spectrum of native countries, heritage, and culture.  We don't always agree on issues or policies, but above all, we are Americans.  This has been true since the colonies came together to fight for their independence.  Our Civil War severely tested this resolve, but unity won.  We don't need a President that would have us march lockstep to the beat of his particular drum.  We Americans are proud of our right to be individuals but when it comes to love of country, we close ranks.

Hope.  Since colonists first came to our shores looking for a better life, America has been a place of hope.  Those that settled American tackled the western frontier and built the greatest country the world has ever known in less than 200 years.  Our history has been marked by optimism, confidence, and determination.  America is a place of success, not failure.  We have always solved our problems and we will solve the challenges facing us today.  Does anyone really believe the present financial downturn will defeat us?  A president who tells an optimistic, confident country to "hope" is doing nothing more than preaching to the choir.

Change.  In the early years of our country, we had the good fortune to be led by a group of intelligent and dedicated individuals.  The Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence were  revolutionary documents that, together, formed a solid foundation on which our country was built.  From these beginnings we have grown and matured much as a child grows into an adult.  Woven into the fabric of our nation is the desire to get it right.  We saw slavery was wrong and over a hundred years ago we abolished it.  Several years later we realized that it was wrong to prevent women from voting and we fixed that.  From an international perspective, after fighting in World War I we tried to bring nations together in peace and  cooperation.  We stopped the spread of fascism in World War II and the spread of communism in the 1980's.  Recently, radical terrorists and people like President Ahmadinejad have called America evil, yet we have come to the aid and defense of more Muslims than any other nation on earth.  We are not a mean country.  We are not an evil country.  We do make mistakes and we try to fix them.  We are also not fully grown up.  Throughout our country at the local, state, and federal level government reviews and refines our laws, to continue our maturation as a nation.

We do not need a president that talks the talk of unity, hope, and change.  America is already walking that walk.  Yet Americans know that our country has problems.  Approval ratings of Congress have never been so low.  Similarly, our current administration started out with great promise only to prove disappointing.  Government has become bloated and ineffective, unrelenting partisanship resembles grade school children bickering on the playground, and our national debt has grown to an unimaginable $10 trillion.  Because we love our country, it makes us angry to see leaders in Washington and on Wall Street promoting corruption and putting self interest ahead of serving the people.  The recent economic meltdown is a case in point; it is not the disease, it is a symptom.  Our governance has become mired in human frailty; greed, narcissism, hunger for power, mutual back scratching, insider networks, partisan fault finding, taking credit for successes even when it is not due, and the fine art of always finding someone else to blame when things go bad.  This needs to be fixed, those responsible need to be held accountable, and those who would continue these shabby practices need to be escorted out of power.

What we need is a president who has demonstrated a willingness to fight for our country, to confront corruption, and to do what's right even when it is not to his advantage politically.  In this regard, John McCain is almost unique in American politics today.  I say "almost" because there is another who shares these qualities; his running mate Sarah Palin. 

We do not need Obama the Messiah.  We need John the Reformer.