And so it seems Barack Obama, the junior Senator from Illinois, is the Democratic nominee for President. Regardless of politics or preference, I think most can agree that its pretty amazing that an African-American has more then good chance of becoming President. I have no doubt that the coming general election campaign will include moments of vicious hate regarding his name, his skin color and whether or not he’s a Muslim (again, he’s not). I have not always been confident that Senator Obama could overcome such prejudices and even today I don’t share the certainty of some that he will be our next President.
Even with the end not reached, much has already been accomplished. The buzz words of the primary season have been “progress”, “hope” and “change”. They have been repeated so often, by everyone involved, that they’ve become cliche. And yet, listening to Senator Obama speak last night as the nominee of the Democratic Party, I realized this is progress. This is hope. This is change. I don’t mean that in terms of his politics, though I agree with him on 99% of the issues. I don’t even really mean that about the man, though I admire him. For the first time an African-American is one of the two major political parties nominee for President. I can’t tell you exactly what it all means. But I know its important.
Photo by T.C. Worley for The New York Times via The Caucus
0 Responses to “The nominee”
Leave a Reply