What percent is enough?

I sit here on my couch, fighting through coughing fits and trying to will myself to sleep for a few hours before tomorrow starts anew. I would normally be flipping through the channels mindlessly, attention deficit floating; but tonight I hardly touch the remote, except to mute out the droning commercials so the rest of the sleeping household won't hear.

My question I'm asking myself as I watch is this: What percentage of my current level of cynicism would I need to actually believe what Barack Obama is saying this evening?

Because I want to believe. The man brings so much to the table. He speaks with passion, he points towards compassion, and there is a quiet conviction and dedication to how he presents himself. He brings feasible ideas forward with clarity and ease. And yet...

I'm scared to let myself believe. How can he stand strong when and where so many others have fallen short? Why him, why now? How many cliches seem to fit? "If something seems to good to be true..."

I don't have a gauge or a good estimate to give a qualitative, objective answer to my question. What I know, for now at least, is that I am far too cynical to anoint him.

I will praise him, though, and with locusts and honey in my beard announce the coming of one who COULD be, and hope that I can be the one who was wrong in the end.