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I like Obama a lot. I'll probably vote for him in the primary, if he runs. But I'm scared to death for him, I really am. It's the invisible 900-pound gorilla in the room, the idea that the same thing could happen to him that happened to Bobby Kennedy, to Martin Luther King, Jr.
So it's with deeply mixed feelings that I watch the ascendancy of my state's junior senator. On the one hand, I really, really think he has a lot of promise, that he will appeal to people who would never before have given a black Democrat the time of day, and I would love to see a President Obama. On the other, I'm terrified for his safety. On the third hand, I think, dammit, if he eschews those kinds of fears, he'll be showing the kind of courage and leadership and dedication and sacrifice we need...and on the fourth hand...he has a wife and children who need him as much, if not more, than the country does. I don't know what to think.
