On Electing Barack Obama President

Highlights from

Barack Obama: The Man I Know
by George Stevens Jr.
in The Huffington Post

Mr. Stevens, an award-winning TV producer and writer, met Obama in 2003 when the latter was campaigning for the United States Senate.

"I went home that night and told my wife that I had met an exceptional man. It had something to do with the way he listened, the look in his eyes, the easy smile. He was there to meet people and raise money, but nothing would distract him from whomever he was talking to at a particular moment. ...

"He was relaxed and centered as he evaluated his prospects; he sought the advice of people he respected; he assessed the obstacles and the work that would have to be accomplished; and he made his decision. Then he put together a staff and a campaign team, and began to enlist followers, much like the community organizer he once was in Chicago. The new kid on the block raised more money than the incumbent Clinton organization that was able to call on political resources developed over a decade. ...

"I saw him last fall when he remained thirty points behind in the national polls and the press was nearly unanimous in saying that the "rock star," as they had dubbed him, was a flash in the pan. Some of his supporters were discouraged and the pundits were insisting that he must attack Senator Clinton directly. ... He promised that he would be "making distinctions" between himself and Senator Clinton, but that to attack her personally would undercut the underlying theme of his campaign which was to put the politics of polarization and division behind us. ...

"Over the past four years, I have observed in him a consistency that earns confidence. He is thoughtful, courteous and humorous, yet he leaves no doubt that, while being a good listener, he will shape his own thinking and fight for what he believes in. He makes me believe that we can be the country we want to be, that we can solve the intractable problems that have divided us, that we can enlist the youth of America to help build our future, that we can be respected again in the eyes of the world -- and, yes, that we can have a president who will call us to the high ground, and ask us to ask ourselves, once again, not what our country can do for us but what we can do for our country."