Articulate, inspiring and decent, Barack Obama sets the bar high for his successor
PHILADELPHIA — At the Democratic National Convention in Boston back in 2004, I chose a random time to get a floor pass to go down and wade among the delegates. I just happened to be right below the podium when a young state senator from Illinois was introduced to give the convention’s keynote address.
Let’s just say that, by the time he was done, I was impressed. I could tell that the guy had a future in politics. What I did not guess was that, in less than five years, he would be taking the oath of office to become president of the United States.
I was there on that frigid, sunny day when hundreds of thousands of Americans came to the west side of the Capitol to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama. Even as the words of his inaugural address carried into the chilly air, though, his enemies on the right were already busy whipping up all kinds of weird tales about him — that he wasn’t born in America, that he wasn’t a Christian, that he was some sort of Manchurian candidate put in place by a socialist cabal in Kenya. One of the less bizarre but still silly anti-Obama memes was that he could barely put together a sentence without the aid of a teleprompter. In a way, this was the dumbest slander of them all because it was so easily debunked by anyone who bothered to turn on a TV and watch the new president conduct a press conference or sit for an interview. In fact, he is one of the most articulate, thoughtful people we have ever had as president.
But, boy oh boy, he is good with a teleprompter. He proved it again Wednesday night here at the Democratic convention, thereby demonstrating what a tough act he will be for Hillary Clinton to follow. It was not his greatest speech — a candidate for that slot is the speech I heard him deliver in Selma, Ala., at the 50th anniversary commemoration of the “Bloody Sunday” civil rights march — but even an average Obama speech is solid.
This one was more than solid. No one is better at configuring in words the heart and hope and aspirations that, on our better days, drive Americans toward unity, inclusivity and a higher vision of what we should be.
The president described the values taught to him by his Kansas grandparents, “like honesty and hard work. Kindness and courtesy. Humility; responsibility; helping each other out.” He said those values are “as strong as ever; still cherished by people of every party, every race and every faith. They live on in each of us.”
Tapping his chest with his fist, he said, “What makes us American, what makes us patriots, is what’s in here. That’s what matters. That’s why we can take the food and music and holidays and styles of other countries and blend it into something uniquely our own. That’s why we can attract strivers and entrepreneurs from around the globe to build new factories and create new industries here. That’s why our military can look the way it does, every shade of humanity, forged into common service. That’s why anyone who threatens our values, whether fascists or communists or jihadists or homegrown demagogues, will always fail in the end.”
There was much more like that; personal and inspirational, touching and soaring. As he spoke, voices among the delegates called out, as if at a church revival — “Speak it! Bring it on home!” And others who shouted, “Don’t leave us! Four more years!”
Speaking as a citizen, not as a journalist, I admit to similar thoughts. My bias in politics leans toward people who are reasoned and rational; people who know compromise is the road to progress; those who acknowledge there are few simple answers and that change comes slowly; and those who, despite the unrelenting, sometimes vicious nature of the struggle, stay cool and hold fast to the belief that “the arc of moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
Obama has all those qualities, plus he is an exemplary husband and father with not a single taint of scandal in his private life. We have been lucky to have this caliber of human being in the White House for the last four years. He has set a high standard for his successor, one that the homegrown demagogue nominated by the Republicans last week is incapable of matching and one that Hillary Clinton must strive to meet.
Follow me at @davidhorsey on Twitter
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