| The Audacity of Hope | | Print | |
 Logically I know that Barack Obama is not Superman or the Messiah.
I am aware that he cannot single-handedly transform America and the world. Yet some part of me does hope, does believe that he can. And millions – or billions – of people being capable of hoping and believing again? Well, that's half the battle. And anyway, Obama's campaign slogan wasn't "Yes I Can" it was "Yes We Can". He never promised to swoop in, wave a magic wand and fix the world's ills. He told us we will all have to work together and even used the word 'sacrifice', a term banned from the campaign trail for decades (the only route to victory being to promise cushier lives and fatter wallets).
To channel all the good intentions into real results, the President-elect (I'll be dropping that 'elect' in three hours) has created the Renew America Together initiative, to rally Americans to commit to service in the community: volunteering in schools, at blood banks and at food pantries. And there's a renewed interest in AmeriCorps too. Maybe volunteering will become 09's leisure activity of choice, now that trudging round shopping malls doesn't seem quite so exhilarating (or appropriate).
So Obama never promised us a rose garden. But when he opens the side door of the Oval Office for a stroll through the White House's own Rose Garden, he will be thinking about his campaign promises and priorities, as he himself outlined in a June 08 Rolling Stone interview:
"If I haven't gotten combat troops out of Iraq, passed universal
health care and created a new energy policy that speaks to our
dependence on foreign oil and deals seriously with global warming, then
we've missed the boat... it's going to
require a lot of attention and imagination, and it's going to require
the American people feeling inspired enough that they're prepared to
take on these big challenges."
Are we all too gullible? If so, blame West Wing Syndrome – we've all watched on the small screen as a principled President does the right thing – but can it happen in real life? Obama may not be Superman, but when I spied him on the cover of Ms magazine my pulse did quicken (and not just for the usual reasons). The editors of Ms believe Obama will fight hard for equality and social justice. And I believe he's committed to protecting the environment, even if that means making radical, brave and yes, audacious decisions. Look again at the Ms cover. If this man can reclaim the f-word in today's America, in my opinion his feet don't touch the ground – and today, mine won't either. Superhero? Maybe not. Hero? Definitely.
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