Barack Obama, Feb 23, 2007 Austin, TX

Here we are, how many hundreds of days out from the first Democratic Primary? Over 20,000 people turned out to hear Barack Obama speak in the middle of Texas, of all places. I haven’t seen anything like this since I heard Robert Kennedy speak at Everett Community College in Everett, WA in the Autumn of 1966… I say SEEN anything like this, RockStar scene that it was. He still hasn’t displayed the courage Kennedy did that day, speaking to college students and telling them he would strip them of their educational deferments from the draft because “it just isn’t fair for you children of privilege to have poorer young people die in your place”, and get cheered for it… But I’m sure Barack will have plenty of time to display his fortitude, and measure up to the truly great ones. Right now he gets to tell people what they want to hear–out of Iraq. The Slime Machines haven’t really geared up yet; be it Hillzilla against his Obambi, or the Niagara Falls of Slime, the Repubs. I’ll be rooting for him, and watching closely.

Barack Obama, Austin, TX; Feb 23, 2007

I recently photographed Barack Obama. He’s truly impressive. He has an easy, non-preachy, inspirational way about him as he speaks about hope in general and getting out of Iraq in particular. He had the courage and foresight to never go along with the war hysteria, a determining factor in my book….. I wouldn’t have thought it possible that an African-American Democrat, out of political nowhere, could be elected President of the same country that elected George W Bush. After seeing him, I have to admit it just might be a possibility. He’s THAT good.