Hope
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008Senator Barack Obama of Illinois is the next president of the United States. While at the polls today I made a decision to leave the section for the office of president blank on my ballot, I am nonetheless excited to see what this man will bring to the country as president.
On the immediate level Obama represents a victory for equal rights around the world. Not only is he the first black president, but he courageously made a point to recognize gays in the third paragraph of his historical speech.
He is a politician who distinctly lacks the machismo that has so long plagued the men of politics. He went out of his way to downplay the wealth of our nation and the most amazing military force in the world praising instead four particular ideals: “democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.”
Now, I have certain objections to the ideals he listed: Democracy is just an imperfect route to institutionalizing ideals. Liberty often actually engenders a general freedom from responsibility or ideals. Opportunity, as an ideal, engenders the idea of upward mobility, which essentially supports the paradigm of the class state. And hope is not an ideal by itself until it is attached to something particularly vital to a healthy society. While I wouldn’t praise these ideals myself, I’m glad to see a man concerning himself with the spirit of the nation, rather than the power of a nation.
Most of all, I was impressed by Obama’s speech, and even struck with a smidgen of regret that I did not vote for him, when he made a very simple confession: “…and we know that government can’t solve every problem.” I observed a glimmer of something more in this man than a stark politician.
He went on to say, “So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other.”
We all know that Presidents cannot enact a spirit of patriotism or service and responsibility like a legal mandate, but, like he said, government can’t solve everything. It really does give me hope to see the President Elect of the United States of American take a step up,l not only as the nation’s next president, but as an inspirational leader who sees beyond politics and reaches out to the heart of his country’s people.
Perhaps, this really is the dawning of a new age, but only time will tell.






