It’s here. Election day. I … and every European I’ve met during my two months on the continent… waits with hope that the Obama will win.

Is he perfect? No. Is his election going to solve all the huge messes the U.S., and the world, have right now? Of course not.

But is he a very, very smart man. And where he may show some lack — being young, being less experienced on an international stage — he is, as The Economist so rightly stated it, a man wise enough to recognize this and to thus pick a partner whose foreign policy experience includes bringing the atrocities of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia to the light of American eyes (which so often refuse to see beyond our borders) and urging diplomacy before bombs in Iraq. He is the man far better suited to this job that the man who, while he was once more of a moderate uniter, has fallen prey to the pettiest of culture-war jargon and picked a running mate who — even aside from her total lack of experience in all the international relations matters so necessary to the successful running of our country — shows such a blatant disregard for science, for difference and diversity, and for basic founding American principles on individuals’ freedom of choice that it should be nauseating to anyone who holds US citizenship.

Obama is the only right choice. As a reminder, just watch what he had to say 7 months ago, when he could have taken the low road or the easy soundbite answer. He didn’t.

And, on the heels of the disasters that 8 years of anti-intellectualism has wrought, we need someone who can think.

Oh please. Oh please please please pleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease. Let America do the right thing.