One hundred AND fifty-four calls. There! Writing it out seems somehow to do it more justice than the mere numerical expression. That’s how many calls I made during our recent Obama phone bank in Hays, KS.

About a week ago I was asked by the Obama Campaign to organize a phone bank to help with the Indiana race. I think they got my name from a staffer who had stayed at our house when he was organizing here in Western Kansas. You know - “Ask Jean, she’s crazy enough to allow complete strangers to sleep in her house, so phoning strangers should be nothing!”

I gulped hard and e-mailed a few people and got a few takers...

Happened across this. It is "out there" for the conservative ear, a type of rap and poetry none the less. It deeply conveys the passionate hope that Obama represents for many whites but perhaps especially blacks. Let me warn you that there is "language," but I know you are all grown ups enough to survive it and believe you may well appreciate this unique and moving poetry.

Today a friend, a former Kansan, sent me an article from a long-time feminist which ends, “I am not voting for Hillary because she is a woman, but because I am.”

Unlike the author, my gender has absolutely nothing to do with the person I caucused for last night. It wouldn’t have even if I had caucused for Hillary, which 77% of us did not. We were not duped by sexist criticisms of Hillary, or unfair attacks laid upon her that would not otherwise apply, were she not a woman. The vast majority of the 333 people attending the local caucus [from a very large district and in a blinding blizzard] more people than ever attended caucus before in good weather, I believe, saw things a little differently. I like to think we voted for the person, for principles and for pragmatism.

It seems Barack Obama appeals as much to the poor as to the "upper crust;" as much to the drop-out as to the well-educated. Displaying an easy manner with all, Barack's demeanor suggests he is one of those lucky ones - the ones who have always been well loved. It pervades all he does, and thus armed, he seems impervious to snarky criticism. He disarms untruths with calm, clear, bitter-free facts. "Tell them they are misinformed," he kindly advises shaken email recipients. It seems his secure childhood home, his strong family of the present, and just "learning to get along" has made Obama tough, and, at the same time, compassionate. These two personality traits may, in the end, be his most important Presidential assets.

In spite of this work's title, the important thing about Barack Obama is not his color. What is important, is HOW he wears his color. It illustrates a unique potential for Presidential success.

As Obama's black friends seem to know, he is not what America calls 'black.' That is, he is not a descendant of the former slave culture. He comes instead out of free black Africa and from white middle-class America. This juxtaposition can temporarily confuse. However, when he listens to what our black citizens say and they, in turn, hear the pride he has in their accomplishments; when they see the confidence he embodies for their better future, they utterly warm to him. Carried along, they understand: Obama not only shares their physical origins, he walks with them. And once they experience that warm, genuine shoulder-clap that is Obama's; they know, "He knows." They are not the same, but their dreams resonate. They incubate within this person.