At first, I was not going to write about Barack Obama’s Berlin speech here, in keeping with my evolving policy about which things I would choose to blog about in my several venues. But I found I could not help myself, nor resist the soaring affect of his words. I imagine that it has occurred to others before that listening to Obama is a religious experience, but I tend to think people regard that feeling as a rhetorical gimmick, or a side effect of his life in the African-American church, or some other mythology that the cynical among us construct to protect ourselves from being deeply moved.
After the Hillary-Barack wars, I must confess to being more than a little weary, and I admit to taking a break from political news in its entirety as the summer began. I was ready to let everything rest until the conventions, maybe even until Labor Day, before I resumed my relentless tracking of every Obama-McCain poll known to humanity. But so much had been made of this big overseas trip, so many people followed his every move. And I recalled how eagerly people from other countries spoke to me about Obama when I was in Europe and Africa earlier this year. So I decided to watch a few minutes of the Berlin speech, just to catch up.
I ended up watching every word, entranced by a leader who might represent me without shaming me, persuaded to listen as he asked people who couldn’t even vote for him to join forces against the narrow, fundamentalist hatreds that are threatening life on our planet. I sat for 25 minutes, imagining what it might be like to hear this man speak with the mandate of the American people at his back. I envisioned the possibility that I might actually have to change my life if he asked it of me, because for the first time since I was a very little girl, someone might be president that I might actually be compelled to listen to.
Someone who can ask us to live into our best selves, to make common cause with the people of the entire world so that those at risk might live better, safer lives–these are sacrificial requests, the currency of faithfulness. Barack Obama may not be a minister, but he has the skill and the vision to speak to the hearts of people, to our deepest longings to make a difference, to our desires to be proud of our country and to ensure its commitment to values that matter to each of us. Perhaps he has given better, more important speeches since his campaign began. And I know that I am not in agreement with him on some vitally important issues–most notably, marriage equality. But I maintain that it was a near-religious experience to hear him call on each of us to live into history, to grasp this moment and reverse the near-fatal course on which our nation has been set. May it be so….
Hi Rose,
Thank you for this. I was particularly moved by the passage, “I envisioned the possibility that I might actually have to change my life if he asked it of me, because for the first time since I was a very little girl, someone might be president that I might actually be compelled to listen to.”
Me too.
Ken W
Rose,
My last post that you never got was in response to your April posting on Barack. I too have disagreed with his stand on marriage equality but I am fervently in favor of his election. I went to New Orleans the other day and met some young adults living in another state now, but the young woman was from Chicago. She stressed over and over again how she supported him and how much they both hoped that young adults can make a difference in this election. My friend who lives in New Orleans and is African American always says “she doesn’t do hope” and thinks the vast majority of people in this country are not ready for Barack Obama. Yet what some see as rhetoric is what many of us have been saying and believing for a long time–we have to find the unity in our diversity, we need to find common cause, and we need to heal this nation. In his speech on racism, Barack Obama told the truth about racism in this country, racism that sears this country and all of us who live here but he also talked about the “audacity of hope” and the need for reconciliation and peace. I am stirred by his words because he speaks the of a deeper unity and the possibility of learning the language of non-violent communication with those whose governments may be sworn enemies but who are human beings nonetheless. May we elect a leader that may ask much of us as individuals and much of our communities and may we answer that call with great heart and spirit. Reverendsusan
Amen, Susan. Really nice to see you here!
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