I read somewhere, sometime, this brief story on Michael Jordon, it should be noted that this story occured after the Bulls had won a few championships:
Jordon was exiting the court after a timeout called during one of his many masterful performances. An assistant coach chided him with the old cliche, 'there's no 'I' in 'team.' To which Jordan quipped back, 'yeah, but there is in 'win.' Funny story, but here's the thing: Jordan was joking. As even Sir Michael his Airness had learned by this time...
It always takes a team. Always.
There are moments, most easily noticed in sports, but present throughout every part of society, where someone or something comes along and completely changes the game. It's often unexpected since the status quo always seems so unsurmountable until, well, it's surmounted. History is littered with those who attempted and failed at such feats. Hard pressed, I could probably come up with a name or two as example. It's hard because we rarely remember the people who got oh-so-close to success. The status quo brushes away such challengers so completely that our very memories become complicit in their induction to history's dust bin. Only those who do succeed seem to know the names of the people on who's shoulders they stand.
There were plenty of ministers who railed against the injustice of life in America before Martin Luther King Jr. took to the pulpit, but I have no idea who they are.
When MLK was assassinated he was days away from pivoting his movement from one of civil rights to one of human rights. He was days away from mobilizing against an unjust war and an unacceptable level of poverty in America - both moral and economic - both black and white. That was when the few and the powerful chose to kill this great man's assault on the status quo.
This week we heard Barack Obama give notice that he intends to change the way the game of politics is played. Obama does not intend to feed the beast of 24hour sensationalism which currently passes for serious discourse in America. He will not play by the rules established by those whose power he seeks to diminish. And, as demonstrated by the 2million+ views of his speech on You Tube, Obama knows he does not have to rely on the traditional, established, status quo to achieve those ends. However, as his campaign has demonstrated, Obama is acutely aware that he cannot do this by himself. He needs a team. He needs the Democratic Party - all of it. All of us.
Just as change is simply impossible until it is not, Obama's call for Hope is simply unrealistic until it is not. Hillary's critiques of him as an empty suit offering false hope are correct, until they are not. The movement from improbable to occurring cannot be pinpointed because it does not involve one person or one moment, but one group of disparate parts uniting in common purpose.
Game changers rarely succeed. The fear holding back many in the party is palpable and real and must be overcome through action. Our leader has taken to the field. We cannot allow him to stand there alone.