I think it is amazing that today we inaugurated a biracial person with the name Barack Hussein Obama to the Presidency of the United States. I don’t care if you are a liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, the simple fact we have done this not only for ourselves but for our country should make the most stoic cynic crack a prideful smile. It shows that anything is possible for any person in America and the American dream still lives.
I have always loved my country but I have not always been proud of America. But I have not been any more proud than I am today. To think nearly 7 ½ years ago a person named Osama Bin Laden orchestrated the most horrible acts of cowardice the world has ever seen. And nearly 6 years ago the American people were tricked into supporting the unprovoked attack and decimation of a country lead by a man named Saddam Hussein; Hussein and Osama, the two most pivotal and hated historical actors in America’s modern history. These names are impossible to not conjure when you hear the name Barack Hussein Obama. The fact the American people looked beyond their (warranted or unwarranted) prejudice and elected the first biracial person who happened to have the most controversial name ever to appear on a national ballot says a lot about our country and what is possible. We looked beyond ourselves and realized there was something better to be had.
And as if his name wasn’t obstacle enough, President Obama was the son of a somewhat gypsyesque academic mother and a short lived resident alien Islamic polygamist father from Kenya, Africa. How did this skinny “black” kid from Hawai'i become the most powerful person on the planet? It happened because America allowed Barak Hussein Obama the opportunity to discover and be himself; to be judged on his own merits and ideas and not those of his father or friends. There is no air of aristocracy, not a familial legacy or an institutional history but only the realization that no matter where you live, no matter who your parents are, no matter your skin color nor the uniqueness of your name, any person can realize the most audacious dream in America.
That is why today I am proud to be an American, not because the person I voted for was just inaugurated the 44th president of the United States but because a person with all of life’s obstacles showed the world why we are the greatest nation on earth.
I have always loved my country but I have not always been proud of America. But I have not been any more proud than I am today. To think nearly 7 ½ years ago a person named Osama Bin Laden orchestrated the most horrible acts of cowardice the world has ever seen. And nearly 6 years ago the American people were tricked into supporting the unprovoked attack and decimation of a country lead by a man named Saddam Hussein; Hussein and Osama, the two most pivotal and hated historical actors in America’s modern history. These names are impossible to not conjure when you hear the name Barack Hussein Obama. The fact the American people looked beyond their (warranted or unwarranted) prejudice and elected the first biracial person who happened to have the most controversial name ever to appear on a national ballot says a lot about our country and what is possible. We looked beyond ourselves and realized there was something better to be had.
And as if his name wasn’t obstacle enough, President Obama was the son of a somewhat gypsyesque academic mother and a short lived resident alien Islamic polygamist father from Kenya, Africa. How did this skinny “black” kid from Hawai'i become the most powerful person on the planet? It happened because America allowed Barak Hussein Obama the opportunity to discover and be himself; to be judged on his own merits and ideas and not those of his father or friends. There is no air of aristocracy, not a familial legacy or an institutional history but only the realization that no matter where you live, no matter who your parents are, no matter your skin color nor the uniqueness of your name, any person can realize the most audacious dream in America.
That is why today I am proud to be an American, not because the person I voted for was just inaugurated the 44th president of the United States but because a person with all of life’s obstacles showed the world why we are the greatest nation on earth.
1 comment:
I share your enthusiasm today and am hopeful that things will uptick soon. It's always darkest before the dawn, though, so I hold no fanciful notions of what lies ahead. President Obama projects awareness of the gravity of the role he has assumed and the challenges it surely will present. I see him as a thoughtful leader and expect him to move forward with good judgment and minus an agenda for agenda's sake. Let's hope.
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