It's quite rare that you would ever see me on the cover of ths sordid little rag. With such an endless pool of drag queens, strippers and that delicious ilk to choose from, you could imagine that it would have to take a pretty cogent reason to lead me to this decision.
How's this for cogent: I am Barack Obama.
I am a bi-racial man, having been raised by my white maternal grandmother.
My white, maternal grandmother taught me invaluable lessons about responsibility, hard work, determination and an enduring spirit.
She also recently passed away, leaving a hole in my heart that can never be filled.
And so, for these reasons, and many others which are less personal and more political ( and one can certainly argue that the two are not necessarily mutually exclusive ) , I supported Barack Obama for the presidency of our United States.
What struck me almost immediately after the official declaration that Obama had clinched the election was this tangible spirit of togetherness, of accomplishment. Everybody seemed to be thinking, 'We did it!' We knew that this lofty ideal of equal opportunity had at long last been given a voice. We all felt, in some way, that we had made this exciting change happen. And, for one shining moment we realized in unison: We are in control of our future. We are the president. We are Barack Obama.
Any one of us who had ever come up through the shackles of any oppresion which sought to prevent us from reaching our goals, and who perservered with the sharp focus that what is rightly ours is ours realized that we are Barack Obama.
Any of us who didn't fit the mass-media stereotype of success and who were wise enough and strong enough in character to blaze our own trails and to not sit quietly when there was too much work to be done realized that we are Barack Obama.
Any of us who felt inside the undeniable flutter of the sparrow, wings beating against our chest in hope of flight, of a deliverance into a higher horizon, the likes of which our predecessors never dared to dream of realized that we are Barack Obama.
So I give you these thoughts and these tears of joy I cried ( pictured below ) in the hope that we, as the navigators of our own tomorrows, can steer wisely clear of the pitfalls and potholes and arrive safely home together, happy, warm in the spirit of hope and secure in the future of our souls in this world and the next.
And thanks to Crew for throwing one hell of an election party. I promise: No more Sofia covers for at least three months.