"Tough-minded diplomacy, backed by the whole range of instruments of American power — political, economic and military — could bring success even when dealing with long-standing adversaries such as Iran and Syria," Obama wrote in the journal Foreign Affairs.

On a more global scale, Obama believes the U.S. must lead an international effort to secure nuclear weapons and material at sites within four years. The clear objective is to reduce a potent threat from terrorist organizations.

Obama also takes a more nuanced approach toward relations with Asia. Regarding China, for example, he correctly focuses on building "a relationship that broadens cooperation while strengthening our ability to compete."

The bottom line: Everyone will have access to health insurance; income will no longer be the insurmountable barrier it is today.

After reviewing his ideas, the careful voter should consider Obama's experience. Born and raised in Hawai'i, Obama later settled in Chicago and became a community organizer with a church-based group, working to better living conditions in poor, high-crime neighborhoods. Later, with a Harvard law degree in hand, he practiced as a civil rights attorney and teacher.

During eight years in the Illinois state legislature he supported increased funding for healthcare and education; he also helped write bills to publicly finance judicial campaigns and create a state earned-income tax credit.

That work, and his undeniable personal charisma, helped propel him into the U.S. Senate, where he has managed to secure additional funding for veterans' medical care and energy development in his home state. He opposed the corporate-written Central American Free Trade Agreement, and he led the charge among those challenging the Bush administration's failure to protect New Orleans.

There is no single candidate who can possess all the attributes needed to guide a president through the impossibly complex challenges of that job. The central question, rather, is which candidate possesses the qualities that we need most?

The U.S. is a nation at war and in economic distress. The road back will be a long one, the journey likely to span more than one presidential tenure. The capacity for hope and the willingness to change, both rallying cries of the Obama campaign, are elements critical to that journey.

The Democrats should recognize that the ability to inspire and to persuade others to follow is no trivial thing, no superficiality.

It is, in fact, the critical aspect of leadership required at times like these, when only a more unified nation can find its way through the difficulties ahead.

The party needs to acknowledge the clarion call that's resonated through the past weeks of the presidential campaign. It needs Barack Obama.