(Disclaimer. Blog writer supports Obama.)

For Illinois Senator Barack Obama, and those endorsing and supporting him to be the next president of the United States, it's been a long and winding road to paraphrase a great song by a great band.

I myself first really became aware of Obama when watching him do a one hour interview on the Charlie Rose Show about 2 and a half years ago. I'm far from an intellectual but there are few things I admire more than intelligence. That is a reason I tivo and almost never miss Charlie Rose's interviews. No one is better at that than Charlie and he has many of the best minds in the world sit at his desk.

After seeing his interview with Senator Obama there was no doubt in my mind that he was one of the most brilliant persons I'd ever listened to. Brilliant and personable, which as we all know is the winning ticket for a successful political career. Obama may not be a world leading expert in any one particular field but what was impressive to me was how many issues he seemed to have a tremendous grasp and understanding of.

I don't know if I heard someone else suggesting it or if it just came to me after hearing Barack a few more times but within a few months of that first interview I heard him do I began to believe that he would be a great person to be the next president.

Now here we are, thirty days from the 2008 presidential election and I must say. Senator Obama is not the candidate I thought he'd be... he's EVEN BETTER than I thought he'd be.

I'm one of these folks who thinks they're smarter than about 90% of the politicians I normally listen to. I know that's not true but again, like many of us I'm sure, when listening to most Washingtonians I often end up scratching my head. With Senator Obama I also often end up scratching my head but with him it's because I'm amazed at how he can have such a comprehensive understanding on such a wide range of issues.

I enjoy attempting to write an occasional poem from time to time and I hope you don't mind too much if I share one about the good Senator from Illinois I wrote a few months back.

"Without Washington, Jefferson and Franklin perhaps America would have never been born, without Lincoln perhaps America would have disintegrated, without Roosevelt perhaps America would have been conquered, without Obama perhaps the greatness of America would have been lost forever." <span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >-- by Steve Everett on April 20th, 2008.
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Back to the blog. You know, I really had my doubts if Obama could get past the powerful Clinton machine. A very capable candidate herself in Hillary and by her side one of America's most successful and popular politicians in the twentieth century. But as we all know he did. Now here we are closing in on voting day.

There have been in the past and there are now many Republicans I respect but I have to say the Republican presidential ticket in my opinion is beyond pathetic. The reality is that although much progress has been made recent polling still shows that about 5% to 7% of Americans WILL NOT vote for any black person running for president but despite that Obama continues to move up in recent national polling.

Add to that 5% to 7% that won't vote for him because of his color and I'd guestimate that another 2% to 4% probably wouldn't vote for him because of his name so for Senator Obama to be leading is really miraculous.

Most encouraging of all for Obama supporters may be the recent move in his numbers at intrade.com which historically has been an even more accurate predicter of elections than the pollsters. As of Saturday morning at intrade Obama was at 67 and McCain 32.

Win, lose or draw on November 4th I'm fairly content that I've done about all I could do in support of the Illinois Senator. I've written several blogs a week and also published a video site DailyDoseOfObamaVids.com. I've donated a lot of time because I believe this election is that important for our nation.

Kind of ironic that we now have what most agree is the worst administration in American history but then this fellow Barack Obama comes out of nowhere really and I believe he could very well put together what historians will someday say was one of the most successful administrations in American history.

Thirty days from now the nation and the world have an opportunity to cheer together. Obama is supported by our international friends 4 to 1 over his opponent. To my fellow supporters of Senator Obama I say let's work harder than ever this last month of the campaign.

Let's get FIRED UP AND READY TO FINISH!

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Cross posted to <a href="http://www.steveeverettrandomthoughts.com/">Steve Everett Random Thoughts .com</a> and <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/user/Steve%20Everett">Daily Kos</a>.
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