Senator Barack Obama is now the Democratic nominee for President of the United States of America.

This seems like a good time to consider who this man is. Here are some quotes from his autobiographies Dreams of My Father and The Audacity of Hope that might help Americans and the rest of the world get a sense of this man who is one general election away from the Oval Office.

Before you read them consider that Henry Kissinger once remarked that presidents come into office and leave office the the same men. The job is too demanding to permit opportunities for growth or change. There is simply no time for reflection.

So here is Senator Obama, in his own words. 

From Dreams of My Father: "I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites."
 
From Dreams of My Father : "I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mother's race."
 
From Dreams of My Father: "There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white."
 
From Dreams of My Father: "It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names."
 
From Dreams of My Father: "I never emulated white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa , that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela."
 
From Audacity of Hope: "I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."