US Senator Barack Obama has filed papers today to form a Presidential Exploratory Committee. Of course, this doesn’t mean that he’s going to be running for president, but it does mean that we are one step closer to not only having a visible minority running for Commander-in-Chief, but that the United States of America may just be ready for an intelligent, charismatic, and socially-aware president after the debacle that was the Bush presidency.

Here’s the video Obama released on his website today, announcing to the world why he thinks that this is a good step for America.

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I’ll be the first to admit that Obama has a steep hill to climb, but despite what many people will say, race will not be an insurmountable obstacle in the next presidential election. I had the pleasure of meeting Obama two years ago and talking to him about some of the challenges that his country was facing in the upcoming decade, and he was not only astute and eloquent, but he had some truly groundbreaking ideas on how to make the USA a truly great country.

I’m looking forward to February 10 when Obama tells America the results of his exploratory committee findings: in less than a month, I might have to start making some Obama 2008 t-shirts.