Man of the Moment

Senator Barack Obama stole the national spotlight at the Democratic Convention when he gave the speech of his life with his powerful vision for America. He talked about "the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too." GQ magazine named Senator Obama one of their Men of the Year, and Newsweek declared this rising star the one to watch in 2005. He is fast becoming America's favorite son.

Oprah: I was told when I first started out to change my name to Suzie because nobody would ever…remember ["Oprah"].

Senator Obama: The same thing happened to me. A political consultant, when we first started thinking about this Senate race, said, "You can have one funny name. You can be 'Barack Smith.' Or you can be 'Joe Obama.' But 'Barack Obama'—that's not gonna work."