Barack Obama makes me think.
Not just in a passing, superficial manner, but rather in a more contemplative, searing fashion--which I've done quite a bit in the past two days; at least as as much as the old bean will allow. Every once in a while "words" can have that type of transcendent effect. And I've come to the conclusion that I have just been made a witness to something historical; something transformational.
I hesitate to write the previous few sentences due to their self-evident ridiculousness. In fact, I wanted to wait a while to digest things a bit. Generally, I tend to avoid hyperbole by throwing up my semi-detached retro-ironic shield. Usually, it's OK for me to like something; even to think that something portends greatness. It gets a bit trickier if I were, heaven forbid, actually moved by something. My snark radar begins flashing. But then add a dollop of widespread acclaim and I'm usually out in front leading the backlash.
Not this time. This time, Barack Obama has actually pulled off an achievement stunning both in scope and execution.
"A More Perfect Union" was billed as a speech about race. A speech that was supposed to be his version of Kennedy's "Catholic" speech. A speech to put the Jeremiah Wright controversy to rest. That's how it was billed.
I heard something different. Something that was shockingly unexpected. Something incredibly risky.
Sure, the speech did address the Wright controversy. Sen. Obama spoke eloquently about the need to find common ground and push the discussion forward. That part of the speech was moving and personal, but I've heard a variation of these themes previously from Sen. Obama.
However, the crux of the speech was squarely in the first few minutes. This is the audacious aspect of the speech. Audacious both for what it attempts to achieve, and, audacious in what it could actually deliver.
Although there are others, the four speeches or documents in American history that I am best able to call on when needed are: [1] The Declaration of Independence; [2] The U.S. Constitution; [3] The Gettysburg Address; and, [4] the "I Have A Dream" speech. All four work on a continuum that leads directly to Sen. Obama's address.
[1] The Declaration of Independence
The Declaration is merely that; a statement. It isn't law, but rather more of a permanent ideal--a Utopian target; particularly these words: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
[2] The United States Constitution
If the Declaration was the fuzzy Utopian moving target, the Constitution was the bartered embodiment of the "all men are created equal" ideal. In fact the Preamble tells us precisely that: "We the people, in order to form a more perfect union . . . do ordain and establish this Constitution." The Preamble neither grants nor prohibits any particular government authority, other than what follows, along with the amendments. The Constitution thus sets forth a set of laws that, in theory, should help citizens in realizing the ideal--or not get in the way of realizing the ideal.
[3] The Gettysburg Address
Probably the most audacious political act in American history. First, Lincoln began by citing the Declaration: "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." Lincoln then immediately pivoted to the events at hand: "Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure."
In short time, Lincoln invoked the principles of equality proffered by the Declaration and redefined the Civil War as a struggle to both preserve the Union and bring equality to its citizens. Needless to say, this was a politically risky move. Willmoore Kendall, who participated in founding the National Review, once wrote: "Abraham Lincoln . . . attempted a new act of founding, involving concretely that startling new interpretation of that principle of the founders which declared that ‘all men are created equal’."
The "new act of founding," according to Kendall, was contained in the passages that stated: "It is for us . . . to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced . . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom."
Lincoln’s notion was the continual approximation of the Declaration. Thus, a nation that is conceived in an idea, liberty; and dedicated to a particular notion--that "all men are created equal," enjoys a new birth of freedom in attempting to effectuate the founding ideal.
[4] MLK--I Have A Dream
This speech almost perfectly encapsulates what one hundred years of Jim Crow in the South had wrought. This speech was more of an admonishment; a demand for America to pony up on its promises. This particular passage does exactly that: "In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note . . . this note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note."
Thus, the "Dream" is merely to ensure that the reality of American life more closely approximated the ideal--"all men are created equal," on which the nation was founded.
[5] A More Perfect Union, by Barack Obama
Sen. Obama begins his address in the same manner as Lincoln and King, by citing those that came before him: "We the people, in order to form a more perfect union."
"Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America's improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787."
But where Lincoln pivoted to the Declaration, Sen. Obama turns back to the Constitution. He notes that the founders made real with the document the abstract ideals that all men are created equal. This is the common thread that runs throughout the speech. The equality gap that exists between the ideals on which the nation was founded and the reality that has existed under its laws.
Sen. Obama explicitly made this point when he stated that: "The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation's original sin of slavery." This mirrors Lincoln's statement that: "It is for us . . . to be dedicated here to the unfinished work . . . ."
Again, the unfinished work is to bring the reality of American life, represented by the Constitution, as close in line as possible with the founding ideal, represented by the Declaration--or, "a union that could be and should be perfected over time."
This idea of narrowing the equality gap in our institutions is expressly stated by Sen. Obama in the next few sentences: "Words on a parchment would not be enough . . . What would be needed were Americans in successive generations who were willing to do their part . . . to narrow that gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time. This was one of the tasks we set forth at the beginning of this campaign - to continue the long march ."
Barack Obama's view of the Constitution is as a living, dynamic document that was written with enough flexibility to accommodate societal changes, when necessary. It is a direct counter to the notion of originalism, which focuses on what meaning the authors would have thought the passage had when it was ratified.
But, Sen. Obama seems to do something even a bit more risky than this. He seems to incorporate the abstract ideals into the literal text of the Preamble. Therefore, when we attempt to form a more perfect union, we do so by constantly attempting to close the gap between the abstract ideal and the actual document. And it is this attempt that provides us with a new birth of freedom.
We have an opportunity to transform this country. Notwithstanding the 18 gazillion Obama solicitations on this site, I hope you will DONATE.
As a final note, I know this was mentioned a few days ago but HE WROTE THE SPEECH HIMSELF.