One of USA's most famous folk songs, Woody Guthrie recorded the song in 1944. With many a comeback in interval years, Bruce Springsteen in 2008 sang 'This land is your land, this land is my land' at concerts in support of the Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama adding 'Yes We Can' chant before and after the song.
The selection of this iconic all-American song captured the intrinsic message of the Democrat candidate's campaign. In his national appeal to the people of the United States of America, he made a clarion call for 'United we Stand in America.' Doggedly building consensus, Barack Obama sought change for the next generation as he promises to lead the nation into the twenty-first century. The resounding response transcended all features of age, education, gender, income, occupation, race and residence - monumental breakthroughs that cut across variables - horizontally and vertically.
What prompts a Bangladeshi-American high school student to donate $3 to the Democrat candidate's election campaign? What inspires a Bangladeshi freshman at college to work the phones for Obama during the primaries? (Neither yet eligible to vote.) What sways a Canadian university student to express the wish that she was now an American? Why the exceptional voter turnout? Why the unusual numbers of early voters? Why the long snaking queues to voting booths? Why the feverish level of interest in a political event?
Through the primaries, the Democratic candidate ploughed his way through the challenging and steep political course of American politics. He captured the party's nomination at the Convention and then went on to cap it all by winning a landslide victory. Pivotal moments that come to mind are the inspiring and meaningful speeches that caught the spirit and the scenario. Who can forget the crowds cramming the festive football stadium for the Democratic Convention or the electric buzz that consumed Grant's Park in Chicago following his successful bid?
The power of speech and the beauty of language; the art of speaking and the beauty of delivery have been demonstrated superbly by Barack Obama. It is in the realm of politics that an individual has the opportunity to call and lead the flock. Credible and inspirational rhetoric has the ability to create a following. One was left with 'that indefinable something' that resonated across the board and spurred millions to jump on the Democratic bandwagon. I would argue that not since the 35th President of the United States of America, John F. Kennedy in the early 1960s, has such an eloquent and mesmerizing speaker emerged on the American political scene. It has been said that 'Rationalize rhetoric and it speaks to your mind, personify her and she speaks to your soul.' Moved by the all-embracing bi-partisan message, uplifted by the inclusive rhetoric, millions transformed 'Yes we can' into an elated 'Yes we did.'
In a single defining moment, the election of Barack Obama can only be categorized as 'tectonic' in its national and global impact. As the 44th President of the United States of America, Obama has made history. In an extraordinary journey that began not so long ago, every media coverage - both print and electronic - could only repeat the words 'historic', 'memorable', 'momentous' and 'monumental' to capture the Man and the Moment. Both nationally and internationally, he is the Embodiment of the American Dream and surely the triumph of both Audacity and Hope.
We live in interesting times. Witness to the civil rights era of the 1960s and Martin Luther King's 'I have a dream' pivotal march in Washington D.C., in 1963, it is incredible that in our lifetime, an individual has been able to seize the mood and the moment and carry the nation with him. For the civil rights leader, his promise that 'We shall overcome' came true sooner than anyone could have ever imagined. The final outcome produced cheers and tears and moments of disbelief. It is remarkable in the number of young people who expressed the wish - that their parents were there with them to witness this epochal event. Only the strongest of sentiments can produce such a profound statement.
Martin Luther King in 1963 had declared: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." That "dream" has materialized in forty-five years. It has been said: 'Rosa Parks sat, so that Martin Luther King could dream, so that Barack Obama could run, so that his children can fly.'
The outpour of emotion for what is simply an election result is to my mind - unparalleled in recent history. One may be forgiven for drawing an analogy with the New Year's celebrations at the onset of the New Millennium in 2000. The mood was one of the 'dawn of a new age.' In reaching beyond the American profile of the mid-twentieth century, Obama touched the hearts, minds and the votes of the multi-ethnic composition of the United States of America of the twenty-first century. Obama addressed the multi-cultural and multi-generational basis of the nation. Earlier Pilgrims' Progress has given way to streams of other pilgrims to the same shores.
Wishful voters across seven seas constituted a global constituency for Barack Obama. This unusual American name became a world-wide household name. Globalization took on another dimension. An international electorate was galvanized into action. The American 2008 Election became Their Election (or so they wished.) The single barometer are the scores of people who stayed up all night - or stayed up late and woke up early to catch the election results as they came in. The dramatic declaration gave way to a spontaneous outbreak of feverish celebration. There was the declaration of a national holiday in Kenya (father's son made good); 8-10 year olds clapping in Indonesia (Obama's primary school alma mater - the graduate who then went on to Harvard). The big and the small were remembered: a mountain in Antigua is to be renamed Obama and any number of babies have been named Barack or Obama.
There are moments in Time that one can identify. 'Where and When' are time-marks in our lifetime. I was a high school student in Washington D.C. in 1963 when President J.F. Kennedy was assassinated on 22nd November. We were glued to the black and white television. Four days were spent before the box as we shed tears as his 2 year old son 'John-John' saluted the passing coffin of his father. Live - we saw Jack Ruby shoot the alleged assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. (Before the age of cable networks, 'live' in Washington D.C. meant just that.) For those of us of That Generation, it was the passing away of 'one of us.' What was it that made a young foreigner identify with the President of the United States of America? In hindsight, Kennedy was someone who reached out and across - someone who promised and promoted a fresh and young America. It was the age of change and 'Camelot' was the name given to the Kennedy era.
The only surviving member of John F. Kennedy's immediate family - Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg was a member of the committee that vetted individuals for the 2008 Democrat Vice-President candidate. The only surviving brother of the late President - Edward Kennedy endorsed Barack Obama early on in the campaign. Kennedy and Obama ties were sealed early in Obama's political run to the presidential race.
It was the American poet Robert Frost who delivered the following lines at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961.
"It makes the prophet in us all presage
The glory of a next Augustan age
Of a power leading from its strength and pride,
Of young ambition eager to be tried,
Firm in our free beliefs without dismay,
In any game the nations want to play.
A gold age of poetry and power
Of which this noonday's the beginning hour."
The wakeup call delivered by the young Kennedy at his inauguration is a milestone in the realms of rhetoric. "…and so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you' ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man…So let us begin anew - remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness…Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate...All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days; nor in the life of this Administration; nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin."
Barack Obama in his first speech as President-Elect noted: "To those -- To those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we've proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope...The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get there."
Are we getting glimpses of similar pledges - close to half a century later? Is this a symbolic passing of the torch? We wait with eager anticipation what promises to be a historic, memorable and monumental event on 20th January 2009 as the 44th President of the United States of America is sworn in. What shall this young man ask of his country and us? The world awaits Obama's 'defining moments.'
Fortunate to be witness to historical moments, there is little doubt that 4th November 2008 is a day that is etched in our minds. While there are great expectations, the man with the audacity of hope has yet spoken of "two wars, a planet in peril and the worst financial crisis in a century."
As we in Bangladesh head towards an election, we scan the horizon for a visionary and pragmatist. Wishfully and wistfully, we search for that individual that combines 'a head in the clouds and feet on the ground.' |