Our president is a writer

"Two weeks later he was gone. In that time, we stand together in front of the Christmas tree and pose for pictures, the only ones I have of us together, me holding an orange basketball, his gift to me, him showing off the tie I've bought him ("Ah, people will know that I am very important wearing such a tie.") At a Dave Brubeck concert, I struggle to sit quietly in the dark auditorium beside him, unable to follow the spare equations of sound that the performers make, careful to clap when he claps. For brief spells in the day I will lie beside him, the two of us alone in the apartment sublet from a retired old woman whose name I forgot, the place full of quilts and doilies and knitted seat covers, and I read my book while he reads his. He remains opaque to me, a present mass; when I mimic his gestures or turns of phrase, I know neither their origins nor their consequences, can't see how they play out over time. But I grow accustomed to his company."

- Barack Obama, Dreams From My Father


Our president -- or the man who will be our president just twenty-four hours from now -- is a philosopher. He integrates lessons from the past -- from the history books as well as from his own history -- with the issues of the present. This is a thinker, a reader. This is a bright and capable man. This is a true human being, and I can't wait to have him as our leader.