Dream

Barack Obama is the new president of the U.S. The first black president, after a historic campaign.  A campaign that, throughout American history, seamlessly connects to a speech given on August 28, 1963, by Martin Luther King in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.  The promise of a dream that one day segregation and racism would be overcome; that change and improvement are possible; that slowly, but surely, a more just and ethical world is possible. Obama’s election doesn’t magically eliminate racial divisions, but it is an incredibly powerful signal that America still remains the country of unlimited possibilities for the individual. Is there any other country in the world where a second-generation immigrant can manage to become the most powerful politician, not only in his country, but in the world?

That message, that promise, has had a tremendous mobilizing power.  The first signs indicate that, this time, all turn-out records have been shattered; that Obama and his promise to change politics have returned to the United States a power of attraction that had been lost for a long time.  That a population that had lost its faith in politics and in the ideals for which such can stand, can still be re-inspired by a political movement.

Obama is already an icon, someone who stands alongside Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy.  That is a very distinguished list, but also a dangerous one.  One can only hope that the Secret Service will permanently remain on full alert, because America, in addition to being the country with the biggest promises, is also the country where fanatic and rabid hate groups can, undisturbed, exercise their constitutional liberties, and don’t shrink back from using all available means.

The biggest problem for Obama is the battle against the sky-high expectations that he himself created. Because, even the most powerful man in the world can not deliver on everything he promised. But that is for later.  Today is a day that will stand forever in the annals of history.