Barack Obama laid out his plans for the future during his recent stop in Greenville. He clicked off his issues, our issues, with the practiced confidence gained over a 15-month presidential campaign.

Fix schools, fix health care, bring back jobs, end the war. He preached these things and more to the choir of supporters that had gathered at Minges Coliseum in the way that professional politicians always do, with pause and inflection, seriousness and swagger.

But as I sat next to my 15-year-old daughter, Louisa, I felt there was something different happening in the hall. There was politics as usual, plus something.

"When I decided to run," Obama told the crowd, "There were some people who said, why are you running so soon? You can afford to wait." Then, using what has become his campaign's mantra, he said: "I'm running because of what Dr. King called, the fierce urgency of now."

In April 1967 at Riverside Church in New York City, Dr. Martin Luther King told the clergy and laymen gathered there:

"History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path of hate... We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late... Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity... Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, 'Too late'....

Looking around as Obama spoke, it could not be missed that those who had stood in line that day were of greatly differing minds, ages, spirits and colors. But putting differences aside — sometimes in the form of waves that intermittently rolled around the arena — this crowd was enthusiastic about hearing what they thought they could get their hearts around, to hear someone say that hope is not a lost cause.

My daughter, answering her own call for a better understanding of her world, came to listen and learn about politics and politicians. I came, first as her dad — she wanted to go, I needed to take her — but also as a citizen, concerned about our community's persistent tension among races and curious about this candidate's unique attraction.

Sitting around us, others brought their own set of expectations. Some were fired up, others seemed subdued and almost tearful at times. But for a few minutes everyone cheered together, and there was at least a sense that this disparate crowd, if given half a chance, could embrace and celebrate some of those differences, rather than always whisper, spit or fight over them.

Maybe Obama's message is the right one, maybe another candidate's; but either way it doesn't often happen that such a cross section of this community, cutting through age and race, can "all sit down together" and cheer for the same things. Building such relationships is where the "urgency of now" becomes most urgent — especially against a backdrop of a continuing war, food and gas prices out of sight and sinking pride and confidence in government.

Obama and King would suggest it is not too late to hope. I hope they're right.