In August 2000, John Kennedy Jr.’s magazine George published a special issue to coincide with the Democratic and Republican nominating conventions. The cover featured a black and white photo of a vigorous President Kennedy with the question “Who will make us proud again?”.

Eight years later, on this, the first day of 2008, and two days before voters in Iowa begin the formal selection of our next president, with America’s standing in the world – and our own self-image – tarnished by eight years of the politics and policies of the Bush Administration, the question is even more timely. With an American public frustrated with the partisan rancor of Beltway politics, and Michigan residents angry with the bitterness and division coming out of Lansing, that question – Who will make us proud again? – is in many ways the essential question for voters in this pivotal election year.

It is because of this question that I support Barack Obama for president. This is not meant as a slight to Hillary Clinton or any other Democratic candidate. I respect and admire Senator Clinton, her work in the Senate, and what she would bring to the Oval Office. (And on a recent in-depth candidate survey, I was closest to her on the issues. But choosing a president goes beyond issues alone.)

It is Obama’s ability to inspire – first articulated for me with his 2004 Convention speech – that earned my support.

Imagine: elected officials who lift us up and inspire us on a daily basis. A president who restores our place in the world as a beacon of hope and opportunity. Leaders who make us proud again.

We have great things ahead of us in 2008. Working together, we can change a broken system of government, reform a cynical politics, and ensure our best days are still to come.