Extended Obama interview from 1995: the man hasn't changed

I recently stumbled across this web page, which contains an extended, three-part interview with Barack Obama after the publication of his book Dreams from My Father. It is a remarkable conversation with a remarkable man, and all the more interesting because it is now thirteen years old.

Anyone who tells you that Obama's positions and beliefs today are ones he has adopted recently, as a result of polling or other political convenience is wrong, and this interview shows it. There is a brief word about Rev. Wright towards the end, but that if anything only underscores the contrast between Obama and Wright: if anyone has changed since this interview was filmed, it's Rev. Wright.

But election-year politics aside, the video brings into sharp focus something else I've been pondering about Obama for a long time: his remarkable ability to draw support from people of all stripes. The rich and the poor, people of every shade of pink, brown, and in between. The young and the old alike.

What is it about Barack Obama that makes him so appealing to so many? Why is it that his supporters fit no easy stereotype?

Part of it is background. When I was a kid, there was a series of public service cartoons that ran on Saturday mornings called Schoolhouse Rock.

One of my favorite ones was called The Great American Melting Pot. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWJ4udW41Ns). The style of it looks kind of dated now, but that silly little cartoon still chokes me up because of its wonderful message: in America, everyone can succeed. And that's Barack Obama. He's the best of what the American "we welcome all comers" idea can produce.

Obama's life and his experience reflect so many cultures, times, places, and traditions that no matter who you are in this country or where you come from, there is a some part of your own story echoed in the events of Barack Obama's life.

I, for example, am a white man who grew up in a redneck former logging town in Arizona. But like Barack, I came from a family whose parents couldn't make it work. I share with him the understanding of what it means to grow up without your father in the house. Both of our lives have been profoundly shaped by that.

To anyone reading this, whatever your circumstance I'll bet you there's something significant that you and he share. Well, almost anyone. If you grew up rich and pampered, without a care in the world, then you may have trouble empathizing with Obama's life, experience, and accomplishments.

The other part is his compassion. His relentless focus on the real fates of real people. To watch the interview and hear him talk about his early days as a community organizer, you can see that he actually cares.

He actually cares about what happens to people.

The sincerity of his efforts to make a difference are unmaskable. I don't think he could hide them if he tried, and I'm glad he doesn't.

You add his compassion to his vast store of shared experience with ordinary Americans, and you get a man who people can believe in. Who they can rally behind. Who inspires people to believe that tomorrow can be better than today. Who motivates people to take tomorrow into their own hands and make it better.

You get a candidate who can weld the many and disparate fragments of the American population into an unstoppable coalition. A body public who can be energized to resurrect the dreams of the dying middle class.

A populace who will no longer accept crumbs instead of bread. A citizenry who will put Barack Obama into the White House.