With 85,000 people packing the capacious Field of Invesco in Denver to embrace "a new kind of politics" promised by Senator Barak Obama, the spectacular evening unfolded. Forty-five years this night it was Dr. Martin Luther King's message: "I have a dream" speech that reverberated across America.
Dr. King's message was a politics of love...peace....equality...where "men are judged by the content of their character; not the color of their skin."
As tears streamed down the faces of millions of onlooking Americans, Senator Obama fulfilled a partial dream. Senator Obama shared his "I have a dream" moment with all of us.
It was not merely politics that tugged hearts of those in the stadium and across our land. It was cultural change and acceptance. The campaign itself, is largely more about cultural awareness and a "personal discovery journey", than politics for many that will vote for the Senator. Senator Obama, now commands the full respect and allegiance of millions of Americans. He has been chosen to lead the Democratic Party in 2008.
In an evening rarely matched in American politics, the dichotomy of the evening oscillated between politics and historical transition into a new age of colorblind majority politics. White Americans trusting a black American for Commander-in-Chief surprises many, though it shouldn't. And there stood Senator Obama orating to the cheers of his followers.
Color matters less today. Ideas and content of character matters more. "A more perfect union today than yesterday" rings even more true today. Tomorrow's America will be more perfect than even today... Americans are excited. Americans are hopeful...and rightfully so.
Did the speech work?
It worked to the extent that politics is put aside. Senator Obama's improbable journey is summed up by Cicero's words to "Live as brave men; and if fortune is adverse, front its blows with brave hearts".
Successful or not in this campaign for the Presidency, Senator Obama has liberated millions of Americans to believe that this is their America and their dream as well. The Senator has fought to go where racial politics has prohibited entrance.
"Separate but equal" and the Jim Crow Laws are but dumped into American trash cans of history.
What Dr. King forty five years ago this night saw in his vision of America, is a promise fulfilled even more than many could imagine.
And the politics of the speech?
Promises littered the Senator's speech. Humphrey, Gore, and Kerry could have trotted out the same liberal mantra....Government must do more. Humphrey promised $1,000 free for every American. Gore promised lock boxes and tight Washington control over social security. Kerry promised tax hikes against the wealthy. And how is Senator Obama's policy proposals any different? Its not.
After all, the average workers need help. Roads need rebuilding. Infrastructure is crumbling. Incomes are falling. What the people can't do for themselves, government must do for them...more money for education...free college tuition...universal health care coverage...higher pay for teachers...
"Dire straights" might describe what the Senator's remarks feel like about the America we have all enjoyed.
In addition, didn't the Senator promise that Uncle Sam will play "we are our brother's keeper" role? The founding fathers wanted nothing of this role. King George III proved why. But, according to Senator Obama, Washington as "our brother's keeper" is the decent thing to do. Washington has the solutions to each American's dream. Hope is on the way?
Change that you can believe in embodies more government, more bureacracy, more policies, more money, etc... FDR and LBJ could have written the lines Senator Obama uses. The rich have had it good. Its the 95% of hard working Americans who must get the tax breaks. Corporate "fat cats" have lined their pockets enough. They need to have their taxes hiked.
Did the speech unify Democrats? No more than before the convention.
What mattered tonight was not politics. It was cultural progress. Republican and Democrat could celebrate, "One small step for an American; one giant leap for all Americans."
"The only thing that stands between a man and what he wants from life is often merely the will to try it and the faith to believe that it is possible," states Rich DeVoss, founder of Amway.
Barak Obama has tried. He has climbed the mountain. To the top yet, we do not know. But many little ones will now have giant shoulders upon which to stand to see the "union more perfect" than the yesterday.
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