A glimpse of the young Obama in action: "That moment, for whatever reason, never left me."

[DeepModem Mom]

CNN: A glimpse of the young Obama in action
By John Blake
Editor's note: In our Behind the Scenes series, CNN correspondents share their experiences in covering news and analyze the stories behind the events. John Blake writes of his encounter with a young politician.


This snapshot shows Barack Obama, left, during his Chicago community organizing days in the mid-1980s.

(CNN) -- In 1987, I got a sneak preview of one of the most unlikely political stories of our time. It would take me nearly 20 years to figure out that I had stumbled upon a slice of American history. I was a summer intern in Illinois at the Chicago Tribune newspaper. An editor dispatched me to City Hall to cover a demonstration. When I arrived, I found a group of angry African-American women shouting at a group of white city officials in a crowded waiting room....

***

As the City Hall demonstration threatened to veer out of control, a lanky man suddenly walked up to the women protesters. He appeared to be in his mid-20s, and he wore a short afro and overalls. The women's shouts trailed off when they saw him. The young man had an annoyed look on his face and, motioning with his index finger, he summoned the women to a corner in the room. They formed a circle around him, some still mumbling in anger.

"What did we come here for?" he asked them.

They gave an answer in unison.

He asked another question and they gave another collective answer.

As the man posed his questions, the anger of the women subsided. It seemed like this was an exercise that they had all rehearsed beforehand to keep the women's anger in check. The women then took a collective breath, pivoted and resumed their demonstration, with the young man leading the way this time. The entire episode didn't last more than five minutes.

That moment, for whatever reason, never left me. It's not as if the man said anything clever or inspiring. I actually don't remember anything he said after his first question. How, I wondered, could these tough, angry women listen with such deference to someone who was so much younger and seemed so different?...

Fast-forward to 2004. That's when I started to hear about a young politician coming out of Chicago....

I didn't know his name when I saw him leading that demonstration 20 years ago, but now I knew.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/08/18/revealed.obama.blake/index.html

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. His past was his prologue...

K&R

:patriot:

[Muttocracy]

2. :)

[cliffordu]

3. I'll bet he has the same effect when he talks to staff that are "concerned"

I love the man and I don't care who knows it. I've waited since RFK for this guy.

[Whisp]

4. what a great story. what a great guy.

he truly is a wonderful human being.
if we mess this one up for him, there will be no forgiveness.

[Frank Booth]

5. If only there were a picture of Obama in overalls...

:(

[FrenchieCat]

6. Great story.....

Obama, in his first book talks about his community organizing days....but not from a 3rd person point of view. In his book, Obama is always in the background empowering the individuals in the community and guiding them on how to get what they wanted themselves. He never put himself in the middle of it. Never. Even if he was present at the table, he would let the others negotiate while he remained mostly silent and low key.

[Lugnut]

7. I like that approach.

We the people have power even though many of us don't realize how far reaching that can be if we focus on the issues.