Laurie Hirschfeld Zeller

I have worked in politics of some form or other for most of my adult life, so it is possible that I have become just a little cynical about many political candidates. A year ago, I was still undecided about which Presidential candidate I would support, and wasn't really ready to commit to any of them. An old friend who is also a politico was working for Obama, and he urged me to take a second look. He called the Senator from Illinois a "transformational figure" - I didn't buy that but I started to pay attention because this friend is someone whom I respect but who is also very difficult to impress.

What I realized was that Barack Obama spoke to a hunger in me and I think in many Americans, to feel inspired to public service, to community service, to an idea of America that still thrills me no matter how old and cynical I may become. My parents came to this country as children. My father's family came to escape Adolph Hitler's Germany. My mother's family came because my uncle, then a toddler, had become ill and suddenly became profoundly deaf. There was one place on the planet in the nineteen-forties where a deaf child could get an education and have a future, and that was Philadelphia, so that's where they moved. I grew up with a profound sense of what a privilege it is to be an American and with an understanding that the role of government is to protect the most vulnerable, at home and around the world. I hear that understanding when I listen to Barack Obama.

My picture is not the most glamorous shot of me ever taken! But it expresses my excitement at being here in Colorado when Barack Obama made history. On election day, we will all make history again, together.