Barack Obama: Presidential candidate, role model

Barack Obama is already teaching me how to behave in better ways.

As he does, consistently, I will make my case with honor. With fortitude, without insinuating fear or envy or other emotions to become central to any discussion. Obama shows us the difference between debate and argument, between being petty and being better than that.

In the old days, I was the angry young man, and now, John McCain is the angry old man. Not that I have anything against age, but young or old, anger, flustered, blinking, grasping, cat and mouse anger, is not the way to go -- at any age.

Anger can be a game changer, but it is never a winner. Note the difference.

Obama, on the other hand, is already a role model: Be consistent. Be fair. Be calm. Resist being rattled by attacks. Stand your ground, firmly but with grace.

A leader of any kind, a winner of any kind, needs firmness and grace, grit and gratitude, collected thoughts and calmness, and not the control of others as much as self-control, for it is self-control, with honor, that is how the game is played when the game is played to win in a virtuous way.