Toni Morrison's Letter to Barack Obama

"Dear Senator Obama,

This letter represents a first for me--a public endorsement of a

Presidential candidate. I feel driven to let you know why I am writing it.

One reason is it may help gather other supporters; another is that this is

one of those singular moments that nations ignore at their peril. I will

not rehearse the multiple crises facing us, but of one thing I am certain:

this opportunity for a national evolution (even revolution) will not come

again soon, and I am convinced you are the person to capture it.

May I describe to you my thoughts? I have admired Senator Clinton for

years. Her knowledge always seemed to me

exhaustive; her negotiation of politics expert.

However I am more compelled by the quality of mind (as far as I can measure

it) of a candidate. I cared little for her gender as a source of my

admiration, and the little I did care was based on the fact that no liberal

woman has ever ruled in America . Only conservative or "new-centrist" ones

are allowed into that realm. Nor do I care very much for your race[s]. I

would not support you if that was all you had to offer or because it might

make me "proud."

In thinking carefully about the strengths of the candidates, I stunned

myself when I came to the following conclusion: that in addition to keen

intelligence, integrity and a rare authenticity, you exhibit something that

has nothing to do with age, experience, race or gender and something I don't

see in other candidates. That something is a creative imagination which

coupled with brilliance equals wisdom. It is too bad if we associate it only

with gray hair and old age. Or if we call searing vision naivete. Or if we

believe cunning is insight. Or if we settle for finessing cures tailored for

each ravaged tree in the forest while ignoring the poisonous landscape that

feeds and surrounds it. Wisdom is a gift; you can't train for it, inherit

it, learn it in a class, or earn it in the workplace--that access can foster

the acquisition of knowledge, but not wisdom.

When, I wondered, was the last time this country was guided by such a

leader? Someone whose moral center was un-embargoed? Someone with

courage

instead of mere ambition? Someone who truly thinks of his country's

citizens as "we," not "they"? Someone who understands what it will take to

help America realize the virtues it fancies about itself, what it

desperately needs to become in the world?

Our future is ripe, outrageously rich in its possibilities. Yet unleashing

the glory of that future will require a difficult labor, and some may be so

frightened of its birth they will refuse to abandon their nostalgia for the

womb.

There have been a few prescient leaders in our past, but you are the man for

this time.

Good luck to you and to us.

--Toni Morrison"

(taken from Roots - NYT)