In 2004 - standing on the floor of the Fleet Center in Boston... I was exhausted. After working for weeks straight without a break... I was directing 5 camera crews at the Democratic National Convention. The film was called "Inside The Bubble", and we'd been exactly there, inside the Kerry Campaign. On the planes, buses, and in the hotels with the traveling staff.

So in Boston - Kerry was really the only thing on my mind.

In the background - people came and went from the podium. Speeches were speechified. Signs were waved. Politicians got face time. But everyone knew it was all the pre-game. Only Kerry would count.

I wasn't even on the floor when it happened. Tuesday July 27th. I was out in the hall. And then I heard a buzz. A rumble. Something was - happening. The building started to vibrate. And I was drawn into the already packed hall. There was a man on the stage, and I'm embarrassed to say that I had no idea who he was. Tall and thin, almost gangly like a teenage boy. He was voice cut through the boomy room and the bad acoustics. No one was talking, No one was on their cell phone.

I remember the words:

"If there is a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. If there is a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for their prescription drugs, and having to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandparent. If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties.

It is that fundamental belief -- It is that fundamental belief: I am my brother's keeper. I am my sister's keeper that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams and yet still come together as one American family.E pluribus unum: "Out of many, one."

Wow. Words that cut through a year of political rhetoric. Words that looked back and looked forwards. Words that embraced Arabs Americans (and that from a guy named Obama - sounds like Osama). There was only one moment like this at the DNC in 2004. One absolutely authentic moment. A moment of political courage and passion. A moment that 'connected' - at least with me. It was, my friends tell me, just like Clinton's rousing nominating speech in 1988. A moment when a new start simply arrives and you know it.

Obama continued to speak....

"Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us -- the spin masters, the negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of "anything goes." Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America -- there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America -- there's the United States of America."

The speech was jolt of energy in an otherwise stage-managed event. John Kerry "Reported for Duty" - a bizarre and poll-driven attempt to remind us that he was more of a military man than the guy who is the current resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Months later - after we'd come out of our funk and begun to re-engage - I was invited to meet with Mr. Obama along with a handful of New Yorkers. It was a fundraiser for his run for the Senate in Illinois. But didn't give a damn about Illinois. I wanted to get a chance to meet the man who I'd seen in Boston. I wanted to know if it was a fluke or if he was as clear thinking and passionate in a small room as he was on stage at the Fleet Center. I don't remember what we talked about. I do remember talking with him, and he being engaged and looking me in the eye, and not glancing over my shoulder to see who was working their way up to him. It was in person, one on one, as galvanizing as that day in July 2004. And it was real. So when Barack Obama says that he's considering a run for the White House, that's a very good thing. For the Party, for the Country, and for the planet. He may run, he may win. He may do neither. But he reminded me to re-watch his speech from 2004... and he reminded me: If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties.

He's a welcome addition to the conversation. And I'm proud to have shaken his hand.

Here, watch the speech for yourself.