This is the text of my letter-to-the-editor printed Feb. 2, 2008, in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on the very day I attended Obama's first rally here. I was a mere 30 feet from Obama amid a sea of 20,000 souls and lucky enough to have him autograph a copy with the word "Thanks!" and his signature. My letter still says what I feel today. I hope it speaks to you, too.

On the surface, I don't have much in common with Sen. Barack Obama. As a white, Midwestern Baby Boomer, I have never worked among the disenfranchised or been poised to take on the burdens of leading the free world.

But I have dreamed. And I have hoped.

In one of the debates, Sen. Obama was chided as a man with nothing to offer but hollow words. He replied that neither he nor his words should be discounted, for words, too, are important. Not merely to transmit information, but to transfer inspiration and transform the heart of the listener.

Indeed, words still have power to summon the faithful to the mountain top. Despite the efforts of his critics to dismiss Sen. Obama's words as naive slogans, those of us in the back pews can hear the wisdom of the ages in his voice and intellect.

I, for one, am grateful that he has called us to once again scale the summit of our nation's great promise. To leave the politics of fear and division behind, and to settle for nothing short of the peace, prosperity and justice that we, as Americans, may rightfully claim for ourselves and for our children.

We are thirsty for a new American rhetoric, a call to be better than we are, to strive for a higher state of grace even knowing that the reach of our tired, human hands may exceed our grasp.

We have not reached for heaven in a long time, but don't let that stop you, Sen. Obama. Keep talking. Tell us about your father's dreams. About the audacity of hope. And how you plan to lead us -- at long last, all of us -- to the frontier of the promised land.

Chris Powers
St. Louis