Mr. Obama Goes to Springfield

Upon graduation from law school I spent a couple of years working as an attorney for the Senate Democrats in the Illinois General Assembly, where I was the lone democratic staffer for the Civil Judiciary Committee. My main job was to analyze the bills that came before the Committee and advise the four Democratic members of the Committee on the bills during Committee meetings. After the bills moved out of Committee to the full Senate, I would be present on the Senate floor to advise any of the Democratic Senators in the event they had questions. We would do other things too, write legislation, meet with lobbiests, etc. but the Committee support and analysis of bills was the main gist of the job. All in all, a pretty cool first job to have after law school.

Six months before I left the job, a newly hatched State Senator by the name of Barack Obama arrived in Springfield and was assigned to the Judiciary Committee. Before his first Judiciary Committee meeting, he summoned me to his office to talk about the bills and my analyses - my first meeting with this extraordinary person. I, like many others in the Statehouse, grasped quickly that this was a person of exceeding intelligence, charisma, talent, and ambition. But, as hard as it is to imagine at this particular moment in history, back in those early days, he was also just a normal person new to the job (well, as normal as a brilliant constitutional law professor from University of Chicago freshly elected to the Illinois Senate can be). I remember standing in a bar one night with him in those early weeks at some function or another, with him pointing to this person or that, asking me who they were, what their story was. Another time in those first months of Barack's legislative career, when Chicago's Mayor Daley was down in Springfield for an annual party that Chicago threw for legislators, I watched as Barack, after waiting in line, introduced himself to the Mayor, shook his hand, and posed to have his picture taken with him. I was aware even then that Barack was destined for bigger things so I paid attention to little moments like that. I have a cool black and white picture of Barack speaking on the floor of the Illinois Senate on a bill he had sponsored, with me standing to his left in the event he had questions or needed additional information. I liked and admired Barack, enjoyed the time I spent with him, and believe he liked me. I got to know Michelle Obama a bit as well, especially when we sat with Barack and Michelle at a friend's wedding not too long after I left the Senate job, and I thought she was fantastic. While I left the job disillusioned in some respects about politics and the legislative process, I continued to hold Barack in high regard. Several years later, Barack was one of my references when I got my current lawyering gig. It is simply amazing to think how far he has come in just these few years, although Deanna and I were predicting great things for him to anyone who would listen long before he became a household name.

The coolest thing to me about the Obama phenomenon is not the man himself, but what he inspires in others. Aside from knowing Barack personally, that is why I feel so strongly about this election. I actually first started this entry the day after Barack’s speech accepting the nomination for President. That day, still riding a wave of emotion from seeing this extraordinary person accept the nomination, I wrote that “No matter who wins this election, I firmly believe that we stand on the brink of a new American epoch. There is no denying the energy, aura, hope and power that hangs thick and heavy in the air today, like the smoke following a fireworks finale in the moment just before everyone exhales, turns their gaze from the sky, and goes back about their business. The culture is changing at a breakneck speed, and, at this moment, for the better. The last decade, defined by its winking cynicism, is slipping away, replaced by a rising tide of hope that will transform all in this nation who care to come along, for the better. The transition to the next epoch is happening now and will be marked in the coming years by turbulence – but, in four years, this world will be completely changed, whether for the good or the worse.” (Apparently my time in politics did not completely beat the optimism out of me!). While I believe some of that remains true, the breakneck speed and turbulence parts seem most true (hello stockmarket!). Only a few weeks have passed and the economy is in shambles, and, it appears to me, the Republicans, in these last desperate days of the campaign, are encouraging, tacitly if not overtly, a cultural war and ugly acts by their supporters. The nation continues to hold its breath but the mood has shifted: things are tense, nerves are frayed, and we are all holding on tight and watching history unfold.

This being, ostensibly, a parenting blog, I will dispense with the politicking at this point but will leave you with one story that is kid-related and always amuses me. The last time I saw either Barack or Michelle Obama in person was at a relatively lightly attended press conference when he announced his long-shot bid for the U.S. Senate seat. I happened to be working at the time in a building across the street from the hotel where the press-conference was taking place and decided to swing by and watch the announcement. Owen had recently been born and Deanna had been corresponding with Michelle Obama via e-mail regarding a daycare facility near our home run by one of Michelle’s friends. After the press-conference, I ran into Michelle in the hallway outside and we took a minute to catch up. While the events in the Obama’s world, I would guess, had been much more eventful even then than the doings in our little corner of the world, Michelle, charming as always, asked, among other things, how breast feeding was going for Deanna. After we parted ways I was making my way through the crowd towards the lobby to leave when I heard my name behind me - Michelle trying to get my attention. I turned around and she called out to me down the crowded hallway with a smile "Tell Deanna to use lanolin on her nipples!" And that, my friends, is a pretty damn cool thing for a (hopefully) future first lady to say.