We love Barack Obama

Here is something I wrote about him:

What really changed my mind is what I have loved about Senator Obama since I first heard about him in the early part of this decade. He gives voice to my generation’s search for purpose. Over the last several months I have read several presidential biographies and works of history about periods of great crisis in American history – two biographies of Lincoln, a biography of Franklin Roosevelt, one of Harry Truman, and Dean Acheson’s memoirs of his term as secretary of state. I am interested in this literature not just because of the impact these men had on the history of this country, but because these periods of crisis serve as clarifying moments in our national narrative. Political lines become exposed, then soften, and these leaders responded to these critical moments by articulating a sense of purpose for a country built upon an idea: Lincoln’s command of men and language and grasp of history taught us, among other things, that the Union is an intellectual concept rooted in the idea of intrinsic human value as espoused in the Declaration of Independence. The United States does not face a serious existential crisis as it did during the Civil War, the Depression, or World War II, but the global and domestic political and economic problems that my generation will face are weighty. Senator Obama should be the next president because he speaks in a language of national unity and destiny and purpose that transcends the mendacity of our current political process and exhorts us to confront those challenges with purpose and determination, in the footsteps of our greatest leaders. If I can do anything to make this possible, I owe it to myself, my country, and its future, to do so.