Quote of the Day, Part II

I should describe this as a "quote of yesterday" since it's part of Obama's speech from last night.

But, if you know me, you know that I respond more to the written word than I do the spoken. I enjoy re-reading speeches after I've heard them, I prefer to hear a speech on the radio than see it on television, and I respond with a more thoughtful commentary when I'm focused on what's being said than what the guy standing directly to the right of the speaker is wearing.

It's fairly obviously related to my love of writing. A good speech certainly requires a good speaker who can deliver the words in the appropriate tone and moment, but more so it requires a good speechwriter who can pull the words together and know, really know, that he or she will never get the credit.

Maybe it's because I live with a former speechwriter that I feel that way, or maybe it's because I have from time to time written them myself.

So I just sat down to read Obama's speech from last night. And, while it stuck out to me before, never so much as it did by reading it. And reading it out loud.

"America, this is our moment. This is our time. Our time to turn the page on the policies of the past. Our time to bring new energy and new ideas to the challenges we face. Our time to offer a new direction for the country we love.

The journey will be difficult. The road will be long. I face this challenge with profound humility, and knowledge of my own limitations. But I also face it with limitless faith in the capacity of the American people. Because if we are willing to work for it, and fight for it, and believe in it, then I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on earth. This was the moment—this was the time—when we came together to remake this great nation so that it may always reflect our very best selves and our highest ideals."

This is why I like Barack Obama. He moves us to our hopes, not our fears. Our dreams, not our current realities. And, possibly most importantly, our belief that we, as Americans, can enact change and make our country and our world a better place for our children, our nephews, our neices, and all the young people who will come long after we're gone, long after this election.

I don't know about you, but I grew up in a Baby Booming household. My mother loved all the things her generation did for the world, and engrained in me that they'd left it a better place.

I have my critiques of her generation, and I've expressed them to her. And a true dialogue between us brought her admittance that her generation didn't make things better for us, for our children, or our children's children, but that, while making some things easier, in many ways may have made things more difficult.

But it also brought out her undying hope that she could reverse it. That she could work her way from the inside to create real change for us.

It's a little thing called real Hope. Not a place in Arkansas, but real hope for our future, for our respected cultures, and for what we, and the generations before us have always wanted to leave in our wake. Hope. Change. Belief that while it may always be an uphill battle, we're always willing to come to the front lines and fight.

Today marks a new day in American politics. But more importantly, it can, and I hope does, mark a new day for the future of this country.

L.