Free Republic

In an announcement weighted with history and moment, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), who less than three years ago was serving in the Illinois Senate, declared today his intention to run for president. "As many of you know, over the last few months I have been thinking hard about my plans for 2008," Obama said in a statement on his presidential exploratory committee Web site. "Running for the presidency is a profound decision—a decision no one should make on the basis of media hype or personal ambition alone—and so before I committed myself and my family to this race, I wanted...