Tyson Chandler wrote in his most recent blog entry about his experience of meeting Barack Obama at an Obama rally he attended with teammate Morris Peterson. It is a well written blog post, so everyone should check it out. Obama opened up the door for Chandler to come back to the Bulls.

Here’s an excerpt of the blog post:

I was sitting at the rally yesterday and I saw this older black gentleman with a camcorder. He had grey hair and he was recording it. I was just watching him and he looked so proud. It looked like he was gonna record it and go back, show his grandchildren and say “I was here on this day.”

And next to him were some older white ladies, who when Obama was making his speech, were jumping up, screaming and raising their hands. So, I was thinking, “Wow, look at that.” You had different nationalities there, different ages and different genders, and everybody was there for the same cause. We haven’t seen this in a long time. And it was just a great thing to be a part of.

Then, I guess our PR people met with the people that were running the rally to try to see if we could maybe get a handshake afterward. His schedule was really tight, but I guess he heard that we were there and he wanted to meet us.

So, we go in the back and he walks in and is naming all the players. He cracks a couple of jokes, saying that I’m always welcome to come back to Chicago, that Chicago misses me. I told him that time has passed. But I wanted to tell him that I’m just like him and it was “Time for change.” Ha ha.

So, we took pictures with him, shook his hand and conversed with him. It didn’t feel like you were in there with a Presidential candidate. I felt like I could have been talking to one of my uncles or my grandfather. It was just a great feeling to know that I was a part of history. It was incredible.

I’ve never known anything about politics before, never got involved. It was just too over my head, and it seemed like I could never do anything about it. I felt like my voice wasn’t to be heard or anything. And for whatever reason, Obama makes you understand that you do have a voice and what you do effects this country, no matter how major or minor.

He was saying that it’s gonna take the whole country to make a change, and it’s gonna be up to parents to cut the lights off a little earlier, put the video games away and help your kids study. And I felt that.

Obviously, I haven’t paid too much attention to politics, but to me, that’s something I’ve never heard before. And the way he speaks, it’s like he’s really truly trying to bring the whole country together and help this country get better from the inside out, starting with our own children and our own families and taking that responsibility.

It was just amazing to hear this man speak. He so much reminds me of my grandfather, the way he’s so soft-spoken, and respectful, and poised, just a man of honor. I told my wife that he reminds me of an educated version of my grandfather. And that’s not a knock on my grandfather. Obviously, he grew up in a time where he didn’t get an education, but it says a lot about the way I feel about Barack, because I respect my grandfather more than any man walking on this Earth. And for me to compare Barack to him says a lot.

It’s funny, because when Obama was giving his speech, he said he was gonna give a tax cut to 95 percent of the people. He says, “If you make under $250,000 a year, raise your hand.” And everybody there raised their hand, except for this one small section of guys. That was our section. And everybody around us was laughing.

But you know what, it’s a bigger cause. And the way I look at it is that I can afford to pay more in taxes. But my parents, my grandparents, my cousins … with what they make, they can’t afford to cut back in their household with what they’re trying to survive with. I can afford to make cuts and still survive. They can’t take that knock.

I think that’s what’s going on now and the reason why the middle class is struggling so much. The upper class, we can take that hit. Obviously, nobody wants to take it, but we still can. And we can afford to live nice lives.

I’ve lived in both situations. And not only that, I’m obviously the only one in my family that can say that I’m a millionaire. I’ve seen my entire family struggle. So, would I rather see my whole family struggle while I get a break, or have me not get a break while the rest of my family gets one? I’ll take my entire family getting a break.