Senator Obama Has A Good Start

It was one year ago today that I first wrote about Senator Obama. I wrote about how I thought he may become President or the possibility of it anyway. I feel the same way today and much more but as it happens before my eyes, it's hard to believe. I think that had I really known what he was up against I would have given him less of a chance. Lesson learned but by any measure, what he has accomplished is remarkable and I see this as an extraordinary triumph and it thrills me to no end. I often wonder if a year ago Senator Obama could have really seen it coming.
I'm grateful for this little web log to because it gives me the ability to know what I was thinking a year ago which is in itself revealing. I consider it a form of detached perspective which I believe is good for personal growth.
For the first half of my life (maybe a bit optimistic) I didn't keep any written record of how I perceived what occurred. I have some pictures and some college papers and accumulated stuff to remind me of what went on but I'm not so sure I really have a strong sense of how I thought.
I think about this a lot lately because having children demands it. I keep telling myself that if I could only remember how I saw things at that age that maybe I would understand them a little bit better.
Looking back I do remember looking out and away from family fairly early. In fact, at that time I must have been oblivious to what my parents wanted of me because my memory is filled with anything but their wishes. I also remember thinking how wrong they were and how right I was. My opinions were obviously being created in a vacuum because I didn't really consider others opinions very much. This is where I have always found the most entwined roots of idealism. I didn't even consider the role of a consensus. Of course it's importance over time would prove to be even greater than that of being right when it came to matters involving people, groups and projects.
Hard medicine to take when your young but without fully accepting that this is how things really get done your talking ''wind pudding and fried snowballs." (an old New England saying)
Above anything else this is what the next president will need to succeed. This is the rarest of abilities that one can possess. I have a less than one hand count of people I've met in my life that were able to win over people to their side without the heavy use of the carrot-and-stick approach. This only works so far and the deeper inside the building you go the harder it gets.