The American Dream, fulfilled in our midst this very week. What a glorious occasion was Election Night 2008.
So much commentary by the media in this campaign has been about race, about the racial make-up of our soon-to-be President Barack Obama. We think that what’s remarkable instead is how little this election actually seems to have been about race.
We recall Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream, that “one day [his] children will live in a nation where they will be judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Perhaps in some sense Obama is that child.
Columnist Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post has tried to capture this recognition in words, calling it “post-racial transformation.” We concur – it is transformational. No longer can self-appointed spokesmen like Jackson, Farrakhan and Sharpton justify their separatist messages, if America’s long national struggle with race is really over.
And that’s not because a black man is elected President, but because the man elected President is black. That’s a subtle but important distinction. Obama did not win because of his race, nor despite it; he won regardless of his race.
For us, this election was about faith, hope and optimism. Americans, by virtue of our unique national heritage, come by those qualities naturally, and Obama spoke to us about them. He appealed to us at that fundamental level.
Yes, we as a nation have just expressed our faith that tomorrow can be better – that it must be better. Where that faith has faltered, we have hope that this new leader can strengthen it. And with renewed hope, we feel optimistic that change will occur.
Not that change will come without pain. Obama said it well in his early comments Tuesday evening as his victory became assured:
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or one term, but America – I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you – we as a people will get there.
That is the optimism of America. Amid the world turmoil in which we play an important role, amid the financial crisis, amid the continuing political disagreements – amid all that we can have optimism, and we do.
The failings of the Bush administration are numerous. We’ve attributed many to the sheer size and power of the federal government, involved in so many ways in our personal lives. But it’s the man at the top who sets the tone, and it’s a new man now, one who calls for change.
And the best part of all: a thorough change in government – with no tanks! America can truly be the envy of the world. The challenge is to work patiently toward those positive expectations – it takes faith, hope, and optimism. In our view, that’s the American Dream.
