notes on an Obama convention

One of the last people to speak when the volunteers were going around the room and saying why we were supporting Obama was a man in fatigues who had come in late. He took the mic and grinned a little, saying, "Well, in this uniform I've got to be careful what I say, I guess."

The whole room got on our feet to applaud him. I have never seen anybody look so embarrassed. His wife next to him was beaming. As people sat back down he cleared his throat and said "Well, that--right there--that shows anybody how patriotic all these people are." He went on to say, quite briefly, that he was a voter for more than military reasons, that his interests were more than Army, but that, and this was important, he thought Obama alone wasn't interested in being commander-in-chief for personal reasons. He said that his fellow men and women in arms deserved better than being used as weapons for someone's political agenda. I think the poor guy would have died of embarrassment if he'd gotten another standing ovation, but he was eloquent and thoughtful and defied convention and stereotype in the name of common sense, and he deserved one.

A little while later I was chatting with a different group and a bald, bikerish looking man with strong arms and a black t-shirt said he was a civics teacher from a different precinct. He worked with high school kids in a rural part of the state. He'd been an Obama supporter since the 2004 Convention (one of the Top 10 Reasons, along with He Reminds Me Of Kennedy, He's Got Integrity, and His Wife Rocks), but he said he'd really realized the power of Obama's message when one of his students had come to him after having read Dreams From My Father. "This really helped me make up my mind," the kid had said. The teacher's eyes filled with tears, surprising because he looked completely hard-boiled, and he continued, with his voice breaking, "He said, 'I want to be like him.'"

We're within reach of a president who could be a real role model, a commander with a conscience, a leader who inspires our own visions and a head of state who lights up what is best in his people.

I'll caucus for that.