furrbear | What a Day This Will Be... (Reply)

A terrific reminder from Barack Obama about what this election is all about, from the bottom to the top:

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If one voice can change a room...

What the Punditeers have to say:

Richard Cohen says that Barack Obama is not a transformational figure, but a confirmational result of progress since LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964:

Just as John F. Kennedy was only incidentally a Catholic, so is Obama only incidentally a black man. It is not just that he is post-racial; so is the nation he is generationally primed to lead. This, of course, was the dream of the man who is buried on his beloved ranch -- the unheralded winner of this election. As he would put it: My fellow Americans, we have overcome.

Bob Herbert tells what today's vote means, but says that it is only the first step:

Americans have to decide if they want a country that tolerates this kind of debased, backward behavior. Or if they want a country that aspires to true greatness — a country that stands for more than the mere rhetoric of equality, freedom, opportunity and justice.

That decision will require more than casting a vote in one presidential election. It will require a great deal of reflective thought and hard work by a committed citizenry. The great promise of America hinges on a government that works, openly and honestly, for the broad interests of the American people, as opposed to the narrow benefit of the favored, wealthy few.

By all means, vote today. But that is just the first step toward meaningful change.

This song is twenty years old, but feels strangely prophetic today, at least that's how I'm feeling about it.
Hattip to Larry, (