Wow. Things are happening fast. I barely had a chance to collect my thoughts regarding Barack Obama's speech last night. Now I wake up to find that Senator McCain has selected and announced his running mate: Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin. The McCain camp didn't waste a minute - they sought to trump Obama's glory by taking over the news, and perhaps they did. At any rate, if the democrats had hoped to soak up the joy of a spectacular and moving convention for a day or two, we were mistaken.

The battle is ON.

I'm embarrassed to say I didn't know anything about Governor Palin before I read about her on the web. But she's apparently considered a maverick like McCain. Though much younger, she's already earned the title of Governor, which says a lot about her determination. The Press reports that she is vehemently anti-abortion, which obviously pleases the conservatives, but doesn't please me. I do not advocate abortion, but I am pro-choice, and I have my reasons. A decline in women's fundamental rights regarding their bodies is not something we should be willing to endorse.

Party affiliation aside, our dinner table is the scene for many boisterous conversations about who is better qualified to take on the job of commander -in-chief; who can best handle the pressure, who can heal the international wounds caused by boastful rhetoric and disrespect, and who will be the most supportive of our allies, especially Israel. In the end, it's unclear who will be able to change the truly dysfunctional course our country has been on for most of the past eight years.

We'd have to be living under a rock not to be aware that each of us will need to pay more taxes in order to cover the tab for the war in Iraq. And it is clear that it will take a continuous infusion of human and monetary resources to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan, and other locations around the globe. And I haven't even begun to talk about our national, social interests like healthcare, infrastructure and education. And of course, there's our environment.  What are we going to do about our dependence on foreign oil, and how are we going to be able to sustain life on this planet for future generations?

Truly, it's a conundrum. Listening to all our newscasters and journalists argue about it makes our choice that much more complicated -- in truth, there are great things and perhaps shortcomings that could be applied to each candidate and each running-mate. But that said, I maintain the opinion that our democratic candidate - Senator Barack Obama, has what it takes to do the job. I'll cast my vote for him.

• Barack Obama