Today Barack Obama the junior Senator from Illinois announced he is forming an exploratory committee to look further into a run for the US Presidency in 2008.

Mr. Obama has recently catapulted onto the national scene with celebrity endorsements, commercials on Monday Night Football and even pictures of him shirtless in tabloids. So is all this attention and support warranted for a junior Senator who’s only been in office for two years?

I think so! This country needs a new, fresh, different look. It’s no surprise the rest of the world is either jealous or hates us. In a day and age that a global economy rules, I think we should be looking at ways to ease tensions around the world and work with other countries, not alienate them. Sure there will be the ones that get out of hand and they need to be dealt with accordingly, but in todays small world created by commerce and the internet, the US needs a new face that can work hand in hand with other nations and not simply tell them what to do.

Now I’m not about to say it’s Barack Obama that’s going to lead us in that path or a democrat or republican, but something definitely needs to change and so far he’s been a breath of fresh air.

I guess we’ll just need to see more about his policies and who else steps forward, but I for one am tired of the “usual suspects” and will welcome some new faces and new ideas.

Here is some background on Barack Obama…

- Born in Hawaii on August 4th, 1961

- Moved to New York, where he graduated from Columbia University in 1983

- Moved to Chicago in 1985, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment

- Earned his law degree from Harvard in 1991, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review

- Returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law. Finally, his advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate, where he served for seven years

- In 2003, Barack launched his improbable race for the United States Senate

- Helped pass major measures that combat the international trafficking of nuclear weapons, promote the use of alternative fuels, and open up the budget process to greater public scrutiny

- Delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, raising his national stature

Here is video of his announcement…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 16th, 2007 at 8:52 pm and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.