Dear friends,

I write to you today to encourage you to support Senator Barack Obama as our next President of the United States.

Last week Rachel and I dropped everything and drove down to South Carolina to volunteer for the Obama campaign. What we witnessed was a revolution that rewrote the rules of politics in that state: rather than paying off local bosses with exorbitant “consulting fees,” the Obama campaign got individual people involved again in our common civic life. The result was a historic turnout that dwarfed not just previous Democratic primaries, but the Republican primary from a week earlier.

In short, Barack Obama is not just running a campaign; he is leading a movement. This isn’t surprising given his experience as an organizer on the streets of Chicago. And I believe that this nation sorely needs the kind of change that happens only when Americans mobilize together.

Senator Obama rightly admired Ronald Reagan’s ability to “change the trajectory of America,” even if he disagrees with the nature of that change. The sun has set on Reagan’s Morning in America, and for 20 years now we have dwelled in its shadow. We cannot afford to meekly inherit that legacy, which holds that military might outweighs diplomacy, that government can never be part of the solution, that selfish attention to our individual interests makes our nation great.

At this juncture in history, we need more than a pile of position papers carefully calibrated to please just enough micro-interests to cross the 50% threshold. We need a new light to discern a new vision.

Let me be clear that I bear no animus towards the other Presidential candidates. In November 2000, I stayed registered in New York so I could cast my ballot for Hillary Clinton. Her victory brightened an otherwise disastrous election, and I remain proud of my vote and of her distinguished record in the Senate. I have also agreed emphatically with every one of Edwards’ main issues. I am impressed with Senator McCain’s distinguished service and personal integrity. I even think Mitt Romney, who lost interest in governing my state, shows promise as a competent executive.

But Barack Obama is the kind of leader we discover perhaps only once every generation. Being in South Carolina before the primary, I saw first-hand the excitement that Obama inspires in people from all walks of life. Grandmothers came out from the neighborhood to volunteer so that their grandchildren could see what it meant to work for something greater. Students drove down from North Carolina to help usher in the future they dream of. (Something’s going on when college students show up to volunteer at 6am on a Saturday!) Middle-aged professionals came from Florida, and Maryland, and as far away as California because they knew that our country could aspire to something more than just the mere sum of individual interests.

By the end of that day, a new set of leaders emerged: leaders young and old; black, white, Latino, Asian; women and men; all changed in our own hearts and ready to get to work for our country. When people wonder how Obama can deliver on his promise of change, I point to those of us gathered that day and respond that change has already begun.

I write this letter to you to spread this hope born of what we’ve experienced. Please don’t let the rancor of these past few decades stop us from reaching for a better government. Barack Obama embodies the hope that we need not accept the world we’re given but rather have the power to change it. He deserves our support in the Democratic primary in your state this upcoming Tuesday.

In friendship,

Gene Koo
Cambridge, Mass.

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