Opinion: Barack and Me

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I first met Barack Obama -- yes, you may touch my hand -- when he was running for Senate in 2004.

It was at the home of a major Hollywood political activist, and even then, you knew this wasn’t just about a man running for an Illinois Senate seat. If that were the case, Dick Durbin would have already racked up millions of frequent flier miles between O’Hare and LAX.

This was obviously, even then, about something bigger. Tellingly, the campaign buttons that Obama’s people handed out to guests mentioned nothing about the Senate race at all. In white letters on green, they just read ‘’Obama.’’ When I was introduced to him, I waved the button as I shook his hand and said, ``O’Bama ... O’Bama ... Irish, right?’’

He laughed. I’m sure he’d heard it before, but politicians know to laugh at a joke as if it were the first time they’ve heard it. ``Yes,’’ he said, with sincerity and not sarcasm in his voice, ``St. Patrick’s Day is a big holiday in our house.’’

That was pretty much it for my one-on-one. He moved among small knots of people, everyone talking about the 2004 campaign -- engaging, smart, attentive to what others were saying, and not at all intimidated by the red-carpet names and faces around him.

Now he’s announced he’s running for president. I don’t think there’s a person who was in the room that day who’s surprised at the arc of Obama’s career from that day -- Obama maybe least of all.

If he wins, he will become the first black president, and will be sworn in just a few weeks before the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln -- who wasn’t born in Illinois, either.