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I want to believe.

I watched as Barack Obama made his announcement on Saturday for his candidacy for president of the United States. He made the announcement in the frigid air of Springfield, Ill., in the shadow of the Old State Capitol where Lincoln once stood. He declared his candidacy to a sea of cheering, diverse faces, young and old, black and white, with U2's "City of Blinding Lights" playing in the background ... and it was almost enough to overcome my cynical nature.

Almost.

At 38 years old, I straddle a particular timeline in the sand. I'm too young to have lived through the civil-rights movement of the '60s. I don't share the deeply personal experiences of my father, who grew up in the Deep South when the lynching of black men and boys was commonplace. What I know of his childhood, I know largely from my grandmother. My father, a retired New York police officer, speaks little of this time in his life. He's only returned to the South once in his adult life, for a family funeral. My father is a proud man. I doubt he'll return to the South again.

I'm too young to remember the marches and protests. But I'm old enough to have been called a "nigger." Excuse the harshness of the word. But that's what I was called. I've never been called the politically correct "N-word." I was about 8 years old, driving in the car with my father. There was a traffic incident with another car. As the vehicle sped by us, one of the passengers yelled out the word. I heard it. I don't know if my father did. I never asked.

So it's with this backdrop that I wonder if America is truly ready to elect a black man as president.

I have a close friend who tells me that if there was ever a time in history that the American public was so disgusted with the status quo that they would want to go in a completely different direction, then that time is now.

I have another friend who tells me the growing power of Obama's cult of celebrity can help generate the momentum he needs to earn a democratic nomination, if not win the election outright.

I want to believe the polls that tell me a growing number of Americans would consider, if not out rightly embrace, a black man as president.

Here's the thing about polls...people lie. They lie in pre-election polls. They lie in exit polls. Not all ... but just enough to make those polls irrelevant, in my opinion.

During his 30-minute speech Saturday, Obama tried to deflect the racial significance of his campaign. Instead, he focused on this nation. About the greater change that needed to occur.

"That is why this campaign can't only be about me. It must be about us. It must be about what we can do together. This campaign must be the occasion, the vehicle, of your hopes, and your dreams. It will take your time, your energy, and your advice—to push us forward when we're doing right, and let us know when we're not. This campaign has to be about reclaiming the meaning of citizenship, restoring our sense of common purpose, and realizing that few obstacles can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for exchange."

I want to believe. I want to believe that in my father's lifetime, the same lifetime that saw him unable to use the same restrooms as a white person, he could see a black man elected president. I want to believe that for my father ... and for my 4-year-old son.

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