As a United States Senator for West Virginia, I’m often asked about the greatest challenges facing our state and country, and how to solve them. Whether it is the lack of job opportunities, access to affordable health care, rising gas and food prices, climate change, the cost of paying for a college education or the war in Iraq—people want to know how we’re going to deal with these complicated and seemingly insurmountable problems. 

These are not easy issues, and as I tell people all over our state, solving them is going to require serious, courageous, and sustained leadership at every level—local, state, federal—and especially in the presidency. That’s why this year’s presidential campaign is so important, and why we can’t afford to get this presidential election wrong.

As a Democrat, I am so honored that we have two experienced, qualified and courageous candidates in Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Each would bring their own unique set of skills and background to the job, and each would be a fantastic president.

Yet, when I think about what we really need to solve the great challenges of our time, there is no fundamental quality that is more necessary than the ability to bring America together.

It is that ability to bring America together, along with a renewed sense of hope and optimism—something that has been missing for nearly a generation—that compelled me to endorse Senator Obama as the next president of the United States.

I know that many West Virginians do not know Barack Obama as well as I do. So, let me share what I know.

Obama started his public service in the streets of Chicago—fighting for people who didn’t have access to healthcare, jobs, or an education. Right out of college, he went to work as a community organizer helping steelworkers and entire communities that had been devastated by plant closings. As he often says about that time, “we gave job-training to the jobless and hope to the hopeless…”

What he learned then, and what I learned in Emmons, West Virginia, is that every human being—and especially those who are less fortunate—deserve opportunity, fairness, and a chance at living a healthy, meaningful life. 

In fact, Barack Obama stands for everything I have fought for my entire life—people, health care, jobs, and education. He knows what it takes to raise strong families, keep our manufacturing strong, protect seniors retirement, and how to honor our veterans who have sacrificed so much for our country.

He also understands the great challenges of the 21st century—restoring our economic prosperity, tackling energy independence and climate change, fighting terrorism and instability around the world, and restoring our moral compass.

To sum up who Barack Obama is, he is a husband, a father, a public servant and a genuine once-in-a-lifetime leader. He is someone who learned at an early age that people who don’t have a voice, people without opportunities—deserve a better life.

It is that passion in him, and his determination to unite our country—that I so identify with, and what this country is calling for.

The simple truth is, our country can’t afford to get this election wrong. West Virginia can’t afford to get this election wrong. We need leadership that is authentic and unafraid—and we need a smart, tough and unifying leader who can put people, real people first.
I believe Barack Obama is the right person for that job