Each Monday, we’re featuring a story submitted for consideration in our upcoming book, The Moment, coming out in January 2012 from Harper Perennial. What’s a “moment”? It’s a story, told in words, images (or both), emails or even a poetic tweet), about something large or small, playful or profound, that changed a life.

With Oprah’s final show in our recent rear-view mirror, I thought I’d share this weird and wonderful piece from Ray Richmond. In his story, Richmond posits that through a series of events, he may have been the reason Queen O jumped into the Obama campaign, and, arguably kicked his campaign into high gear. Could this SMITH writer be unsung hero of our 44th President? Read “‘Hi. It’s Oprah Winfrey” and decide for yourself.