Backing Change, and Obama
Today we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one of the greatest leaders in our country's history. His life was cut cruelly short by an assassin's bullet forty years ago, because he had come to represent the most dangerous and powerful force that exists: The force of change. His ideas about uniting black and white, rich and poor, to transform America into the great country it has always promised to be, were revolutionary, and threatened to unseat a political establishment that thrived on war, apartheid, and exploitation.
There has not since been a leader with the same power as Dr. King to unite and inspire, and it may be some time before there is again. However, in these dark times of war, looming financial and environmental crises, and growing division between rich and poor, we are in dire need of someone to carry King's legacy to the White House. I believe Barack Obama to be such a person.
Obama is young, self-made, and African American, a strikingly polar opposite to the ruinous administration leaders of the last eight years. While this makes him incredibly attractive to disillusioned Democratic voters, it is just the beginning of his appeal. He does not represent a political dynasty or brand, but something much more powerful: Change. He has distinguished himself through his passion, hope, and promise to rise above the divisions that are destroying America, and threatening our place in the world.
While Obama has been criticized for lacking foreign policy credentials, he is singularly qualified to lead American relations with the countries where they are needed the most. The son of a Kenyan Muslim, who briefly attended Islamic school as a child, Obama has a perspective on Islam that is rare in American politics, and the unprecedented opportunity to build bridges between our cultures.
‘Inexperienced' is the word most used by his detractors to describe Obama's greatest supposed political flaw. Thing is, myself and the thousands of young Americans who carried the Senator through the primaries don't see his relatively few years in office as a flaw, but rather as a unique advantage. The next American president will be faced with the Herculean task of repairing our country's once proud democracy, tarnished by warmongers, corrupted by private interests, and scarred by Old Boy's Clubs of Capitol Hill. Obama, who shares King's aversion to war, who was a civil rights lawyer, and not a CEO, who remains a political outsider, is just the man to do this.
The Democratic race will not be decided by fiscal policy, voting records, or the comprehensiveness of a universal health care plan. Our next presidential candidate will be chosen by passion, character, and most of all, the potential to transform America into the great country Dr. King knew it could be. Obama is such a candidate, and today that is clearer than ever.
