The organizing principles of the Obama campaign are pretty simple.

Respect. Empower. Include.

It's how volunteers are expected to interact with potential voters when representing the campaign. Doesn't matter if you're talking to a solid Obama supporter or a die hard McCain fan, the guidelines still apply.

I thought about it all day yesterday. After the ugly divisive speeches at the RNC the night before, the disparaging of community organizing, the hypocrisy and arrogance and judgmental rhetoric of a bitter campaign by the sadly desperate McCain camp. I thought about the last eight years of the presidency of George W. Bush, and how well he represented the American people who believe exactly as he does. And no one else.

And then I thought about the possibility of four more years of a president who will represent his base. And no one else. A candidate who tosses insults like 'elitist' at his opponent while his wife pleads for hurricane relief wearing a $300,000 dollar outfit.

But it kept coming back to me.

Respect. Empower. Include.

Don't attack the person, attack the policy. Don't disrespect other people's beliefs, point out why yours are valid. Don't divide. Unite.

And then I found this.

It's the same message, and a powerful one, because it speaks to all of us. The Senator's speech at Yale Divinity has as its message the same strengths and the same tolerance for others that the Obama team espouses. The Senator's topic is religious tolerance, but the concept applies equally in a global sense.

Respect, Empower, Include

Those are the ideals that most of America believe in and that make us who we are, as a nation and as a world filled with individuals who recognize that we are stronger when we respect our differences and recognize our commonalities.

It doesn't mean we should take it easy on the other side. In fact, it's their backward policies and empty promises that we need to point to when we talk to people about why McCain is wrong for America. Republicans have taken our country in the wrong direction for the past eight years, and have obstructed Congress for the last two. The McCain campaign has no solutions for the problems that face America, and the absence of any discussion of substantive plans to fix our economy, the environment or our foreign relations at this week's RNC has made that clear. Their plan is to rally their base and divide our country further. Ours is to include all Americans in an effort to move our country forward and restore our moral authority.

I'm not claiming that the those of us in the center and the center-left are guiltless, myself included. Far from it. I feel a little bad, for example, about calling out Cindy for wearing an outfit worth more than my house.

We all have our weak moments.