"Getting through these dark times"

[MBS]

from Salon.com, but also accessible at Obama website. .
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hqblog

Interview with Samantha Power, Harvard professor and foreign policy advisor to Barack.
She's just written a book on Sergio Vieira de Mello, legendary UN envoy tragically killed in Baghdad

Excerpts:

...In light of all the questioning of Obama's "experience," you've said he has dirt under his fingernails, and that he would bring a new America to the world. How would he do that?

The idea that he doesn't have experience is nuts to me. He's a constitutional law professor. I happen to miss the Constitution; I thought it was a good document. That's a huge component of being a president when you're combating terrorism and you're trying to restore American values.

The fact that he used to work in the inner city, that's the dirt under his fingernails. If people are an abstraction to you, it's going to show. If you're living with people, if you're working in the inner city, you see the human stakes of it all. He's also worked abroad, so he's comfortable crossing boundaries.

. . .
...You've talked about what a great teacher Vieira de Mello is. What has he taught you?

I think Sergio makes me see dignity. His great line, and actually my favorite line in the whole book, is, "Fear is a bad adviser." I love that. It's so simple. And then that humility and curiosity are very important -- but also a sense of fallibility without paralysis.

I think Obama has all those things in spades. I like to think that as I get older I'm getting better at spending time with people who have qualities that make them worth spending time with . . .