Though I wasn't old enough to vote for him the two times he won election, Bill Clinton was the president of my generation. For me, the most memorable bill he signed into law was the "motor-voter" bill that allowed me and any other eligible voter to register to vote when applying or renewing a driver's license.

I registered as a Liberal when I turned 18 in 1997 but found out that there weren't any primaries for the affiliation in New York. So, having grown up in Queens under Democrats such as Mayor Ed Koch and Gov. Mario Cuomo, the party that always appealed to me was the one with the hardworking, blue-collar donkey as its mascot, not the slothy, white elephant of the Republicans.

In the first elections I could vote in, in 1998, I gave my vote to Democratic Rep. Charles Schumer to unseat Republican Sen. Al D'Amato, even though D'Amato was from Long Island, where I had been living since 1989. Unfortunately, Republican George Pataki won the election to succeed Cuomo as governor, but at least New York's senators were both Democrats.

Which leads me back to the Clintons, as in 2000, Bill Clinton's second term was coming to an end and his wife, Hillary, was running for New York's other seat in the Senate after Daniel Moynihan decided to retire. It was a risky run for the transplanted New Yorker, so I decided to help Hillary Clinton's campaign. It was great when she kept another Republican from Long Island, Rick Lazio, from gaining a seat in the Senate.

However, George W. Bush's theft of the election from Vice President Al Gore that same year led me to a self-imposed exile in Japan. Granted, I had worked on basketball hall-of-famer and former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley's failed campaign to become the Democrats' nominee for president, but Gore had the knowledge, experience and ideas to be a great president. Oh, and he had more of the popular vote than Bush, except that his brother wasn't the governor of Florida and he wasn't friends with anyone the likes of Katherine Harris.

In 2004, I voted on party lines for Sen. John Kerry but with the same result: another four years of Bush, and another four years of exile.

Yet this year, in what many say is the most important election in generations, I have a hard time voting on party lines. My hesitations with Sen. Barack Obama are more serious than a grudge because he beat Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

My main concern is his promotion of religion. As a believer in the separation of church and state, I never stood for or recited the Pledge of Allegiance while in school because it contains the phrase "under God," which wasn't in the original oath. On July 1, Obama said he would expand Bush's program of giving federal money for faith-based social services. Though Obama would change the name of the program from the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, the intent is the same.

I also feel that Obama at times panders too much to too many people so he can succeed in the election. His campaign's placement of ads in video games smacks of arrogance and elitism in the sense that money can buy anything, anywhere.

However, the reason I will vote for Obama over Sen. John McCain is McCain's unwavering support for the war in Iraq. Though a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War, McCain hasn't learned that war cannot solve all issues, especially when a war is provoked on bogus reasons. If there are no weapons of mass destruction, what are soldiers losing their lives for?

McCain may be like Gore in that they are both wooden and don't show much character, and in the fact that he has more knowledge and experience than Obama. However, Obama has ideas.

Yes, actions speak louder than words, and calls for "Change" fall on deaf ears if no one takes the initiative. But America's self-image and foreign policy need to change, something that McCain cannot do.

Obama can make change a reality. With Democrats likely to retain control of both houses of Congress, Obama's first two years in office will be a time when America's image will change for the better for those abroad and at home. Only the financial crisis and a Newt Gingrichian revolution in one chamber of Congress may delay or derail Obama. But McCain, short of effective ideas, would face a tougher task and be less equipped to handle the same situations.

Speaking of the financial crisis, though Bush will be out of office the day after I turn 30, I shall remain in exile, as it's better to watch a storm than be in the middle of one.

E-mail: yung@ml.japantimes.co.jp