Cross-posted on my blog.
Live from Australia, my thoughts on Obama's speech. I know it's the middle of the night in America, and no one will probably read this, but I have to put a few thoughts down about Senator Obama’s acceptance speech. I meant to do so right after I watched it, but I got a phone call and then I had to get lunch and then I had actual work to do.
I almost didn’t get to watch it due to a client call—I was hoping it would end in time. I would have been quite upset if I didn’t get a chance to see live what was perhaps the most historic presidential nomination speech in history. Not only that, but the chance to see Obama specifically was important to me.
As everyone who knows me know, I’m an unapologetic Obama supporter who drank the Kool-Ade long ago and supported him even before he announced he would run for president. I have watched his career since before he became a Senator, since before his seminal speech at the Convention in 2004. (My friend Lindsey from Chicago introduced me to Obama in 2002 or 2003, and I’m grateful to her for that.) So take this with a grain of salt, or not. I don’t care.
Tonight certainly was a historic occasion. The 45th anniversary of Dr King’s "I Have a Dream" speech—where he looked to a future where we judged people not by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character—saw a man of African descent accept the nomination of a major party. A man who is one of two who will be the next President of the United States.
But beyond that, a fresh politician who genuinely promises something different. I wasn’t around then, but I imagine this is what it felt like to watch a John or Robert Kennedy event. That kind of optimism, that kind of, well, hope in America, in what we can be.
I was raised by my parents to love America and to want to serve it, to be smart and participate in the process, to do my part and vote. That ethic came from, most strongly, my maternal grandparents, who always have been politically active and instilled in me a sense of duty and patriotism. From my grandfather, a quiet Southern gentleman (who I am reminded of every time I see Jimmy Carter) and retired Air Force colonel, and my grandmother, a fiery, funny woman who can still curse in German, I learned that I lived in a special place, one where anything was possible and anyone could do anything.
So it has pained me, over the past eight years, to find myself at times quite literally hating America. Not the fundamental premise of America, but what had been done to her and in her name. To see her Constitution soiled by those who would put profit and personal gain and the quest for power above the common good. To see the people’s representatives become so blinded by lies and deception and fear that they no longer served their bosses—us—but rather sought to shut us out of the process permanently. To dwell on the negative, the pessimistic, the fear mongering.
I’m a cynic by nature, so it has been very easy for me to shot obscenities at the top of my lungs, shaking my fist at the sky and flipping off any representation of George W Bush or Dick Cheney—including them in the flesh at one point—just to show that no, I am not one of those Americans.
We are better than that.
And tonight, Barack Obama showed us why. He showed us what America can be—what America should be. A place where we can achieve the great challenges that face us, where we can come together to better ourselves, where a skinny kid with a funny name can go from nowhere to the highest office of the land.
I’m not sure I’ve ever felt prouder of my country than I did tonight, or today at work in my case. The speech was at noon on a Friday, and I watched it with my headphones on at my desk. It has been strange and difficult viewing this race from afar, especially after moving from Ground Zero for US politics to the other end of the world, where I was the only one in an office of 40 who even glanced up at a television to watch such a historic occasion. I felt that itching, like when you can’t wait to get to Six Flags to ride the roller coasters, or knowing that you want so badly to be somewhere but it’s impossible for that to happen.
It was difficult, and after Obama’s speech I watched the celebrations at Mile High Stadium, and listened. Beyond the spectacle, I saw the America I want to be a part of, the America I know and love, the America whose son I am.
And then, I had to take off my headphones and return to the dull quiet of my work, where phones rang and copiers droned like filler shots from an episode of "The Office". But every time a clip of the speech appeared on one of the televisions on the wall, I felt a surge of pride. Yes, everyone, this is my America. This is the real face of my country. This is the image I want the world to see.
Not cynicism, hope. Not deception, truth. Not divisiveness, unity.
God bless America.