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It's like what Bill Grace said all great leaders have. Obama's sincerity comes from his awareness every time he is in public, but probably when he's in private too, that he is the face of something that is much bigger than him. How else could a leader stand there and not collapse from the love and the pressure and the intensity of such a mass? He has to call upon this awareness often, remind himself of this greater force behind him, constantly recall that he's just a man with a message. But he knows it so well. He knows is SO WELL that he is only there because of the power of us.

There are four days between now and the day we can kiss the last eight years of leadership (or rather, fear conditioning) goodbye forever. I guess we're susceptible to a bit of post-election depression if we think Obama's our magic pill. But whatever happens on election day, the movement has already begun. The beauty of his campaign is that so much has emerged already through the nationwide movement to elect him. It's such a perfect campaign --- he's already won without even winning by stimulating our collective imagination.

When I see McCain speak, I see a generation passing on into history. I see a man out of touch. I see a strategy that's finally failing. Joe the Plumber wants to install environmentally friendly plumbing! Joe the Plumber is starting to realize that black and white is just what you see when you're so far away from reality that you can't distinguish all the beautiful shades of gray. Joe the Plumber is trading in his Red Bull for some Kombucha. Okay, maybe that's last one is just Joe the Plumber from Santa Cruz. But I'm ready to accept the challenge of some real leadership in our country. It means that we who have been unhappy can't be unhappy and inactive anymore because we're done hoping for some legitimate politicizing.