Yes He Can

Get elected, that is. As soon as Barack Obama's acceptance speech ended, I said, "Well, I now think he'll win this thing." The speech wasn't what I was hoping for but I believe it struck the chords requested from voters and will give people who want to vote for him enough justification. A historian on PBS gave this pithy assessment: "He sacrificed eloquence for electability."

The next morning, I realize that the most remarkable thing about his speech last night was that immediately after it ended people were discussing its content, its delivery and whether or not this speech helped Barack in this election. Why is that remarkable? This was a black candidate. I cannot do this topic justice, but how about just a pause to comprehend, a deep breath that we let out slowly in deep satisfaction that we are here. In Barack's own lifetime, we have gone from dehumanizing segregation, criminal denial of voting rights and rank prejudice to the actual possibility that a black man will be elected President. Sigh.

Back to the convention speech. I like eloquence, oration, inspiration. This one was not in the same vein as his masterpieces like the Keynote Address of 2004, his speech on religion and politics in 2006, his victory speech in Iowa, his Yes We Can speech in New Hampshire or the Unity speech in Philadelphia. For that, I was disappointed. But I accept the reality that not every voter thinks like me. I read the texts of those speeches and think "I want someone who thinks like that as President." I think Barack's convention speech was aimed far more at the "rest" of the people. For that, the speech was nearly perfect.

I had one serious problem. It was the only distortion I heard, but Barack did say that McCain defined middle class as anyone making less than 5 million dollars a year. I heard the Q&A giving rise to that distortion and while McCain gave a poor answer, that is not what McCain said. McCain has said and done enough to justify accusations that he doesn't know or doesn't get the middle class (as Barack said elsewhere in his speech), but it was a pure distortion to use the 5 million dollars statement like that.

On economic issues, energy issues and education I believe Barack laid out a direction that will resonate with the majority of voters. On social issues of abortion, guns and gay marriage, I believe Barack sought common ground but I'm sure there will be many for whom these issues are all-or-nothing. Health care seemed to me the only traditionally liberal issue laid out by Barack, but in my opinion that is an idea whose time has come.

The best political points of the night were turning McCain's "celebrity" attack against Barack on its head. Well executed and true. And seizing the McCain campaign slogan and deftly exposing its implication.

At least Barack threw me a bone at the end.

This country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that's not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that's not what makes us strong. Our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that's not what keeps the world coming to our shores.

Instead, it is that American spirit - that American promise - that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend.

That promise is our greatest inheritance. It's a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to yours - a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot.

And it is that promise that forty five years ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington, before Lincoln's Memorial, and hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.

The men and women who gathered there could've heard many things. They could've heard words of anger and discord. They could've been told to succumb to the fear and frustration of so many dreams deferred.

But what the people heard instead - people of every creed and color, from every walk of life - is that in America, our destiny is inextricably linked. That together, our dreams can be one.

"We cannot walk alone," the preacher cried. "And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back."

America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise - that American promise - and in the words of Scripture hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.