Obama and the long march
The following is an excerpt from an editorial this week in the New York Times: President Barack Obama’s speech before the Democratic convention in Philadelphia last week was, of course, an occasion to celebrate the candidacy of Hillary Clinton.
His presence on the podium was also a valedictory for an exceptional man and president who will be remembered for eloquently defending the founding precepts of the country — even as he used those precepts to expand the mandate of inclusiveness and broaden the definition of what it means to be an American.
From that standpoint, the Obama presidency has been transformative — perhaps even miraculous. But the very idea of a black man in the White House was too much to bear for white supremacists and the anti-government militia groups that have only grown more savage over time. The Republican nominee, Donald Trump, traded openly on these impulses, amping up the racism, xenophobia and religious bigotry that have poisoned public discourse in this nation.
Wednesday night’s speech came 12 years after Obama, then a Senate candidate from Illinois, delivered the keynote address at the Democratic convention in Boston that brought him into the national spotlight. That speech laid out his personal history, the son of a black Kenyan and a white American, and sounded the theme that has been common to his orations ever since: that the progress of American history is toward the creation of one people — “out of many, one.”
Steadfast optimism about the country’s ability to move past racial division even in times of tragedy and desperation is a constant theme in Obama’s philosophy. And this year — with rising fears about terrorism and the killings by and of police officers — has been such a time.
In his speech, he turned again to that long view, one that has always animated the American spirit.
“The America I know is full of courage, and optimism, and ingenuity. The America I know is decent and generous,” he said. “We get frustrated with political gridlock, worry about racial divisions; are shocked and saddened by the madness of Orlando or Nice.”
“All that is real; we’re challenged to do better; to be better. But as I’ve travelled this country, through all 50 states; as I’ve rejoiced with you and mourned with you, what I’ve also seen, more than anything, is what is right with America.”
He said those words, knowing that it is always easier to drive Americans apart, to stoop to the language of hate and peddle scapegoats for every ill.
Obama said he ran for office to “continue the long march of those who came before us” and to convince the country that we could “perfect our union by understanding that we may have different stories, but we hold common hopes.”
In his eight years in the White House — an entire lifetime for youngsters who have only known a president who is black — Obama wasn’t able to heal the racial and political divisions despite his efforts. He has expressed his regret and disappointment about that failure. But a fundamental truth of history is that change comes slowly and is often recognizable only in retrospect.