YouTube [FREE WOMAN -"for first time: We can vote as we believe." - 10:43 min - Obama Rally at UCLA, February 3, 2008 ] : op-ed by Caroline Kennedy "spoke to wh I was feeling, wh so many Amers hv bn feeling. We too have not had a president who inspired us, the way people say they were inspired by your father President John F Kennedy. Until now. We are excited. We are fired up bcs of one man, Barack Obama. who has been able to touch our hearts & touch our hope. ..that is why you came out here in the rain, bcs can feel it. can feel the spirit & th energy & th intelligence he has *already* brought to this election process. /y/ and just imagine what he will do when he is president. ..this election a victory for womens rights & civil rights. now we are free. and for the first time, we can just vote as we believe." ..re woman told her she's a traitor to her gender: "I have been a woman all my life. & every part of me believes in the empowerment of women. but the truth is I'm a FREE woman. so I say, no, I am not a traitor, I am just following my own truth and that truth has led me to Barack Obama." ..re ppl say she's supporting for Obama bcs he's black: "Don't play me small. I am voting for Obama not bcs he's black. I'm voting for Obama bcs he's brilliant. He's brilliant."
Republican friends watching a Republican debate, three year old son said "Where is Rock O Mama?"

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Legendary novelist and editor Toni Morrison's endorsement of Barack Obama [quoted by Oprah here] is obviously not significant for her ability to move voters at the polls, which is not proven and probably not likely to be proven. But given her perceived attachment to the Clintons—Bill, she famously once called America's first black president; and Hillary she has been close to in the past—we thought it worth printing in full the letter of endorsement she sent to the Illinois senator, as released by the Obama campaign:

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. yes.
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 yes,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