Ton Morrison expresses best why I'm an Obama supporter:

[Emillereid]

Even though I started out as a Kucinich and then Edwards supporter I have been secretly being pulled in Obama's direction. I began to recognize something in him that I had not seen since my youth in the sixties. Over the years as I watched corporate fascism growing in ascendancy, I admit I had grown cynical and didn't much believe than any person could make much of a difference - corporate power and repression have been on the rise under both republican and democratic presidencies. So I looked at the 2008 election with a heavy heart knowing full well that my first two preferred candidate would be shut out by big media and that the people would never be allowed to hear their respective messages and that big media was once again going to pick our candidates. Yet every time I listened to Obama some small kernel of hope and belief would spring up from the depths of my being - could I dare believe again? Was a better future possible? Could we as a people and a species make the necessary changes in our trajectory to avoid the calamitous cliff. Was their yet another one who would lead us to the mountain top? I began to go to Obama's rallies and there I saw my young self amplified a 1000 fold - they saw clear-eyed the possibilities in Obama that I only glimpsed. As much as many of you want to dismiss the passion that Obama supporters have for their candidate as some sort of misguided cult worship, It is not. What you are seeing is people of every race, gender and age empowered to take back their future. Obama is the focal point, the spark, but the energy is theirs. And he knows it too -- over and over he talks about we, not me. He informs us that the hard work of change is only beginning and that we must stay engaged. He knows that real change must come from the people. It's not enough to elect him as president - he can not do it alone - he needs the full force of the people pushing from below. I was young in the 60s and I participated first hand in dramatic changes - and we were not driven to action by someone's policy positions, but by that youthful, irrational some one say, belief that another world was possible. We were blessed with John and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther KIng - figures in some way larger than life and more than their policy positions who yes INSPIRED US! Who called on us to reach for the stars. Obama is a gift; an inspirational and transformative figure that comes only rarely. I hope you young and old cynics out there can harken back to that place when you knew that if you believed something was possible - it was. YES WE CAN!

I DON'T KNOW WHY WHEN I CUT AND PASTED THE LETTER THE LAST PART HAS LINES THROUGH - IT DOESN'T IN THE PREVIEW. JUST READ THROUGH IT AND IGNORE THE LINES. THANKS

Toni Morrison's Letter to Barack Obama
http://www.observer.com/2008/toni-morrisons-letter-barack-obama
BY TOM MCGEVERAN | JANUARY 28, 2008 |

Dear Senator Obama,
This letter represents a first for me--a public endorsement of a Presidential candidate. I feel driven to let you know why I am writing it. One reason is it may help gather other supporters; another is that this is one of those singular moments that nations ignore at their peril. I will not rehearse the multiple crises facing us, but of one thing I am certain: this opportunity for a national evolution (even revolution) will not come again soon, and I am convinced you are the person to capture it.
May I describe to you my thoughts?
<snip>
In thinking carefully about the strengths of the candidates, I stunned myself when I came to the following conclusion: that in addition to keen intelligence, integrity and a rare authenticity, you exhibit something that has nothing to do with age, experience, race or gender and something I don't see in other candidates. That something is a creative imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom. It is too bad if we associate it only with gray hair and old age. Or if we call searing vision naivete. Or if we believe cunning is insight. Or if we settle for finessing cures tailored for each ravaged tree in the forest while ignoring the poisonous landscape that feeds and surrounds it. Wisdom is a gift; you can't train for it, inherit it, learn it in a class, or earn it in the workplace--that access can foster the acquisition of knowledge, but not wisdom.
<snip>
Good luck to you and to us.
Toni Morrison

[Emillereid]

1. OK - how does someone get some traction around here? I did spend a little

time putting my thoughts down and it is painful to simple be ignored. Do other Obama supporters agree with Toni and I? Is this discussion forum only about fighting?

[TexasObserver]

3. Edit it now. Cut out 3/4s of your post.

Save it for down thread banter.

Think marketing. Short attention spans. 90% of posters here see a first post like that and never read it.

You asked, so I told you. Fix it and you'll get responses.

[suston96]

6. You got it. It's a paint-ball game with kiddie insult shots...sorry, no discussions needed...nt

[TexasObserver]

2. You make some good points.

Even though I was with John until he pulled out, I've been watching favorably the ascent of Obama. I thought John would emerge as the alternative to Hillary, but I failed to accurately gauge the level of excitement for Obama. Like many, I thought that would subside, but it hasn't.

[NC_Nurse]

4. I have also decided on Obama. I was for Edwards

and when he dropped out I moved to Obama. I have high hopes that
he can inspire some cooperation in DC and make some desperately needed changes in
the political climate there.

Here's my post on my decision:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4366736&mesg_id=4366736

Sometimes it takes a while for people to notice your post and reply. :hi:

[hfojvt]

5. about the lines

I believe there is a "[" in the letter which does HTML 'things to whatever is written after it.

[hfojvt]

8. okay, no it was the block s

Morrison writes "race" and that causes the lines

[cooolandrew]

7. "We" is the most important part of the sentance. He acknowledges governement is a group effort.

[Emillereid]

9. More of Toni's letter to Obama

I have admired Senator Clinton for years. Her knowledge always seemed to me exhaustive; her negotiation of politics expert. However I am more compelled by the quality of mind (as far as I can measure it) of a candidate. I cared little for her gender as a source of my admiration, and the little I did care was based on the fact that no liberal woman has ever ruled in America. Only conservative or "new-centrist" ones are allowed into that realm. Nor do I care very much for your races. I would not support you if that was all you had to offer or because it might make me "proud." http://www.observer.com/2008/toni-morrisons-letter-bara...

[Emillereid]

10. More of Toni's letter to Obama

When, I wondered, was the last time this country was guided by such a leader? Someone whose moral center was un-embargoed? Someone with courage instead of mere ambition? Someone who truly thinks of his country's citizens as "we," not "they"? Someone who understands what it will take to help America realize the virtues it fancies about itself, what it desperately needs to become in the world?
Our future is ripe, outrageously rich in its possibilities. Yet unleashing the glory of that future will require a difficult labor, and some may be so frightened of its birth they will refuse to abandon their nostalgia for the womb.
There have been a few prescient leaders in our past, but you are the man for this time.

http://www.observer.com/2008/toni-morrisons-letter-barack-obama

Yesterday I went to the Obama rally and I came away completely impressed by Michelle and Oprah. Michelle particularly reminded us that the best way to know a candidate is to learn what they were doing when they were not in the limelight. Obama was doing community organizing and then took his fight for the poor into the Illinois state legislature. He was not working in fancy law firms or sitting on corporate boards.