Reply #7: Here's mine... [View All]

[Neecy]

A little over a year ago, I read his book Dreams from my Father. I'd recommend it to anyone currently on the fence.

His detractors here say that he's all talk and no substance. Yet I read about a young man who was committed to helping pull people out of lives of poverty and despair and he put his money where his mouth was, working in some of the roughest neighborhoods on the South Side (and, as a former Chicagoan, I know how hard and seemingly hopeless some of those neighborhoods are). And he made a difference. Most people his age are looking for the big bucks and flat screen tv's. He worked with the poor and he wrote about their lives with dignity and respect.

And he's a thoughtful, brilliant man. He wrote with the kind of eloquence and introspection that are seldom seen in these 'is your children learning' days.

So when he opened his campaign headquarters in Kansas City, MO I went with my sister - a Missourian - to their open house. I remembered our days in the Kerry campaign when they ignored my state of Kansas and I spent every day of that campaign hoofing it in Missouri. I fully expected the same treatment when we walked through the door and, as often happens when there's a state line nearby, we got the inevitable question - 'what state?' I sighed, knowing I'd end up in Missouri again. I pointed to my sister and said "Missouri" and pointed to myself and said "Kansas". Imagine my surprise when the guy whooped, pumped his fist and said to me, "We've been waiting for you!". You see, Obama actually cared about my state and put huge resources into it. He appeared here - as Democratic candidates never do - and we were put to work on the Kansas caucus. Imagine that - a Democrat gave a damn about Kansas. Coupled with his early opposition to the Iraq war I knew this was someone I could not only support but sell my friends and neighbors on. And we gave Obama a massive victory here. On to Denver!