We have a great deal of healing to do as a country. As Barack Obama was announced as our new president, the bar I was in (see above photo) burst into a raucous roar as the frustration and anger of eight years was purged. Cheers of "Oh-Bah-Mah!" rang out, along with assorted random cheering and high fives as some hugged, and some cried. And it was at that point I found myself thinking that the perfect way to truly capture the feeling of unity among all the strangers packed into that tiny place was a song to emphasize our pride in America. But I quickly realized there isn't one anymore. At least not for the majority of those in that bar, who felt so disenfranchised by their country. The Star Spangled Banner. God Bless America. These no longer adequately capture the current mood of our country, and singing one of them would have been forced. But it felt like that was what we should have been doing. I think other people wanted to sing those songs too, but their pride in this country has been shaken by the path she has taken over the past several years. This is why Obama was elected. He as promised to restore our pride and unify our country. This is his most difficult and important task.
Perhaps what I found most incredible about last night was Obama's speech. We have watched him deliver spine-chiller upon spine-chiller, but last night was the one that I will never forget. Not because of the packed bar I was in where everyone stopped -- and in a room of 60 drunken and dazed San Franciscans the only sound heard over Obama's voice was the soft crying of those overwhelmed -- but because of how unbelievably cool he was when he was on that stage. There was no look of surprise on his face as he accepted what had just happened to him and his country. There was no tinge of fear in his voice as he spoke. He was just ready. It blew my mind. The command he possessed over that moment is something I will never forget.
There is no way to overstate the pressure President-Elect Obama now finds himself in, under, and around. He has taken our country on a twenty-one month journey that started with confusion, doubt, and skeptecism which morphed into anxiety, excitement, and that all important word, hope, and erupted last night with an unbridled euphoria nationally and worldwide the likes of which escape my recollection. In Chicago hundreds of thousands (if not a million plus) packed the park where Barack Obama gave his acceptance speech. In San Francisco bars and streets overflowed with thousands of deliriously happy Obama supporters. People in far-off and forgotten lands flooded streets with signs of an American President's likeness, chanting his name with a belief that he is a true prophet of change for an America that they feel has left them behind. He has promised that he will change the world. Certainly he is not the first person to promise this, but I think he is the first person who we actually believe can do it. This expectation that Barack Obama has built for himself is incredible, and any failure to deliver upon it will be devastating.
One of the biggest dangers I think we face at this stage is allowing the enormity of this achievement to immunize our new President from criticism. I have never been more grateful for the two-month lag between election day and the swearing-in ceremony, because I think the next 75 days will allow us to fully absorb what has happened and get us to a point where we can look at Obama as our president, and not just as our first black president. This is important, for if we are to truly realize both the change Obama worked so hard for, and the acceptance Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought so hard to achieve, we must treat President-Elect Obama as any other President, and we must not be afraid to hold his feet to the fire when they need to be, as our vigilance is our greatest resource. We must remember that he works for us. This is our country, every bit as much as it is his. Obama's earned this election in large part because of ability to inspire, but that alone is not enough to make him a great President. We must make him prove to us that he can lead our country, and we must hold him responsible for the decisions he makes, both good and bad.
I believe that I will be one of Obama's biggest critics as his term unfolds, because there are a lot of things he plans to do that I do not agree with. As I have said before, I am a center-right kind of guy, and Obama strikes me as a far left on several policy matters that I feel are hugely important. I do not go into these next four years with the unbridled enthusiasm I witnessed many express last night because I fear that there is a chance this young man's limited executive experience could prove costly as he inherits a country on the verge of a tailspin. All that said, last night I could not help but be overwhelmed by pride for what we had done. Forty years ago, Barack Obama would not have been allowed to use the same water fountain as me. Today he leads my country. Indeed, we have come a long way.
As I started typing this into a Google Document, I noticed every time I typed "Obama" I would get the dotted red spell check line underneath telling me I had misspelled it. So I went back and typed a bunch of different last names, just to see. Jefferson. Lincoln. Kennedy. Reagan. Clinton. McCain. No red line. It wasn't until I got near the end of this that the red line stopped appearing. I guess Google Docs got the clue that "Obama" wasn't a typo, but something it should learn to accept.
Welcome to the new America.
I played the concession and victory speeches for my kids today, and I've done a decent job refusing to tell them who I voted for. One thing that's really stood out to me is that Obama has set himself (and us) a ridiculously high bar. He's stated a lot of desires that will take far longer than four or even eight years to accomplish. Economies don't turn around overnight. Wars cannot be ended in a week. Understanding doesn't come in a month. If he hadn't set that bar so high, I'd worry that as the first black president he'd be held to greater criticism than others, but he's established that criteria high himself. It's going to be very hard to live up to, and I'm impressed by the willingness to set very high standards.
ReplyDeleteBut what has also impressed me is the fact that internationally the world is also getting excited by the change in leadership. McCain supporters are not saying, "Obama will run the country into the ground," but rather, "Well, at least it's a step towards national unity and real equality for all people." Time will tell how successful the man is, but the message of the voters' choice has far deeper reaching meaning that I think is in itself valuable.
At Kirch and DMo's we sang the Olympics theme song. It served us well.
ReplyDeleteJamo, I really liked your post. When I was watching things unfold, I realized that I should have tried to go to Chicago because I'm not that far from it. It's funny how different you feel when you're surrounded by so many other excited people. When Obama came to Bloomington last spring, just watching him walk down the street made my heart pound and I couldn't stop smiling. I can't imagine what it would have felt like to see that speech in person.
ReplyDeleteI was telling Drew that I find it amazing that someday, we can tell our grandchildren that we took part in electing the first black president of America. It was the fist time in a long time that I was proud to be part of this generation and proud to be part of the United States.
Here's to hope.