Dear Senator
Obama,
This letter
represents a first for me--a public endorsement
of a Presidential candidate. I feel driven to
let you know why I am writing it. One reason is
it may help gather other supporters; another is
that this is one of those singular moments that
nations ignore at their peril. I will not
rehearse the multiple crises facing us, but of
one thing I am certain: this opportunity for a
national evolution (even revolution) will not
come again soon, and I am convinced you are the
person to capture it.
May I describe to
you my thoughts?
I have admired
Senator Clinton for years. Her knowledge always
seemed to me exhaustive; her negotiation of
politics expert. However I am more compelled by
the quality of mind (as far as I can measure it)
of a candidate. I cared little for her gender
as a source of my admiration, and the little I
did care was based on the fact that no liberal
woman has ever ruled in America. Only
conservative or "new-centrist" ones are allowed
into that realm. Nor do I care very much for
your race[s]. I would not support you if that
was all you had to offer or because it might
make me "proud."
In thinking
carefully about the strengths of the candidates,
I stunned myself when I came to the following
conclusion: that in addition to keen
intelligence, integrity and a rare authenticity,
you exhibit something that has nothing to do
with age, experience, race or gender and
something I don't see in other candidates. That
something is a creative imagination which
coupled with brilliance equals wisdom. It is too
bad if we associate it only with gray hair and
old age. Or if we call searing vision naivete.
Or if we believe cunning is insight. Or if we
settle for finessing cures tailored for each
ravaged tree in the forest while ignoring the
poisonous landscape that feeds and surrounds it.
Wisdom is a gift; you can't train for it,
inherit it, learn it in a class, or earn it in
the workplace--that access can foster the
acquisition of knowledge, but not wisdom.
When, I wondered,
was the last time this country was guided by
such a leader? Someone whose moral center was
un-embargoed? Someone with courage instead of
mere ambition? Someone who truly thinks of his
country's citizens as "we," not "they"? Someone
who understands what it will take to help
America realize the virtues it fancies about
itself, what it desperately needs to become in
the world?
Our future is
ripe, outrageously rich in its possibilities.
Yet unleashing the glory of that future will
require a difficult labor, and some may be so
frightened of its birth they will refuse to
abandon their nostalgia for the womb.
There have been a
few prescient leaders in our past, but you are
the man for this time.
Good luck to you
and to us.
Toni Morrison
