Hope

Today Barack Obama gave one of, if not the, most important speech of his political career. With all the mud that has been slung about his pastor he needed to come out and address the issues forcefully and completely. I believe he did just that. I have absolutely no problem with individuals and the media bringing these sorts of contentions to light. Important questions and valid issues were brought up from discussing the senator's relationship and feelings towards Pastor Wright.

I highly agree with his analysis of race in America. We still have major problems and discrimination in this great country. They cannot be ignored or just wished away. They must be dealt with and dealt with soon. I do not want to feel the guilt associated with alienating and disenfranchising another generation of young Americans due to the inequalities inherent in our social landscape.

Note that I did say great country. Throughout the course of this nation we have proven that there is no problem too big or too complicated we cannot solve or at least improve the situation of. Even one as large and ugly as slavery.

The most meaningful part of the speech for me

There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organized for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She had been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and one day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.

And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.

She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.

Now Ashley might have made a different choice. Perhaps somebody told her along the way that the source of her mother's problems were blacks who were on welfare and too lazy to work, or Hispanics who were coming into the country illegally. But she didn't. She sought out allies in her fight against injustice.

Anyway, Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley."

Yes We Can. Yes We Can. Yes We Can.