Yes we can

On this day, before the most important election day of this and many a year, perhaps we can reflect on why we look to our leaders. When times are good, we can get by with a manager and all that we ask is that he or she not f***  things up.  Even when times are tough, we’re not looking for a magic bullet for all our problems, we’re looking for the gunsmith who can make the bullet. This year, any of the candidates may have made a good president, but what we need at this precarious time in our history is a great president, one who can look beyond what divides us to rediscover that what makes us good also makes us great.

The elder Bush once complained that he did not have “the vision thing” and he still managed to get by as a caretaker.  But after 8 years of the younger Bush, in a world that is hostile and uncertain, mostly as a result of his policies,  we need more than a caretaker president.  We need a visionary. We need inspiration. We need a reason to feel good about our choice.

Ladies and Gentlemen,  in his own words – Barack Obama.

(From his speech in New Hampshire January 8, 2008 after he had lost to HIllary Clinton in that primary.)

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.
Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.
Yes we can.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change. (We want change.)         We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics…they will only grow louder and more dissonant. We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check. We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.

Now the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people; we are one nation; and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea:

Yes We Can.