by Joshua Lee

Created on: January 28, 2009

Barack Obama will most certainly improve the country. I'm not talking about ideology, liberals or conservatives. I'm not going to argue that his position on abortion is morally superior, or his beliefs on education are perfect. This is instead about who he is as an individual, and how the world feels about him. Obama has intelligence, leadership, competence, and international goodwill the likes of which we haven't seen before.

First off, he is one of the most intelligent presidents we've ever had. Even the most conservative of Republicans admit this. Coming from the most humble of beginnings, and through the promise of America, he managed to become the leader of the Free World. Certainly that tells something of his intellect? He went to Harvard Law and became President of the Harvard Law Review. This wasn't achieved through his Daddy's connections, but through intelligence, and a steady dose of humility, inspiration, understanding, leadership, and competence.

Anyone who looks at him from an objective standpoint cannot help but see this intelligence emanating from his every word. Compare it with the disjointed, incoherent sentences of his predecessor, and it's worlds apart. It is not a matter of a better or worse ideology, or being a Democrat instead of a Republican. It will be a huge step forward to have a President who actually understands the bounds of the rule of law, the limits of the free market, and a foreign policy that understands that while we are the most powerful country the world has ever seen, we cannot solve the world's challenges on our own.

Second, the man has strong leadership. I'm not talking about years in the Senate, I'm talking about leadership learned on the streets of Chicago. Becoming a successful community organizer requires immense and unique leadership abilities found in few other professions. To make sure that everyone is doing what needs to be done is a task that requires a dedicated mind, a mind that isn't afraid to make the tough decisions or take new ideas into account.

Obama has already shown this by going out of his way to include minority Senate Republicans in the debate over the Stimulus package. He was under no obligation to do so. Indeed, Democrats and Republicans alike both publicly admit that Obama already had the 60 votes he needs for passage.

Being a community organizer requires that you listen to disparate opinions from across the spectrum. You must cull these opinions together into a workable, pragmatic solution that everyone

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