Touching the Future

You heard it here first -- Barack Obama will some day run for President. And he just might win.

I have been following the Illinois Senatorial election sort of vaguely, in the background. Mostly, it has been the stuff of political farce. A candidate in the primary implodes over allegations in a nasty divorce. Then, in the general campaign, the Republican candidate assigns a staffer to literally stalk Obama and record every word out of his mouth. But instead of provoking Obama into an outburst, the tactic just makes the Republican candidate look bad. Then the same Republican's candidacy implodes over -- surprise surprise, allegations in a messy divorce. The Republicans scramble to find a replacement but no one who might have a chance, but no one, including Chicago legend Mike "Da Bears" Ditka is willing to jump in.

And why would they? Their opponent is Barack Obama, a tall, trim, well-spoken, Harvard-trained lawyer, who also happens to be black. At least, that's what I had heard in the punditocracy -- I had not ever heard the man speak, and didn't know much about him. But it turns out that he is a man of substance and a force to reckoned with.

I confess that I still don't know much about him (something I intend to rectify), but now, at least, I have heard him speak, and all I can say is "wow." He was coherent, eloquent, passionate, compassionate, and had something to say. I wish I had a transcript, because he had a number of good soundbites, delivered with oratorical flourish and no obvious reliance on a prepared text (as near as I can tell, he didn't look down at his notes once). Anyway, here are some of the soundbites that I had the presence of mind to copy down:

"...hope is a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him too..."

"...The audacity of hope..."

"...If an elderly person cannot afford medication, that affects me, even if it is not my grandparent.... If a Muslim family is being rounded up without the benefit of a lawyer, that threatens my civil rights. I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper."

"...There are no red states and blue states. There is just the United States of America..."

I took the position in my last post that the oratorical skills of President Clinton are sadly the exception among modern politicians rather than the rule. And while I stand by that observation, I freely concede that Barack Obama tonight made a great case for being added to the short list of modern orators worth listening to any chance you get. I note, as well, that his position as the keynote speaker augers well for his future -- lest we forget, the last Democratic president made his national debut as the keynote speaker at the 1988 Democratic convention. It doesn't hurt that Obama is good-looking in a Tiger Woods sort of way -- sadly, it may be the case that the first black man to break the barrier to the Oval Office may have to be one who is black, but not "too black". I wish it weren't so, but if that is the case, Obama certainly looks and sounds the part.

But anyway, remember, you heard it here first.