Yes We Can

You know it’s a rough night when the TV makes your beer taste bad.

So, Clinton won New Hampshire. I’ll avoid the more cynical thoughts that have been bouncing around my head all day, but sufficed to say we’ve got a battle on our hands. It’s all about Feb. 5 now. One on one. Clinton vs. Obama. We’ve got Nevada and South Carolina coming, but even if Obama wins both (and he well could) it’s a Feb. 5 national primary that will determine the Democratic presidential nominee.

As disappointed as I was with the surprising outcome, I was never prouder to support Barack Obama as when he delivered yet another outstanding speech last night. As a speech instructor, I can’t help but marvel at how he can consistently deliver speeches that could appear in rhetoric textbooks.

This is the impressive dynamic that we now face.
Women, especially those who knew the harsh chauvinism of the 20th Century and battled to change the workplace, are increasingly and understandably sympathetic to Hillary Clinton. This group is one of the biggest constituencies of the Democratic Party.

Meantime, people under 40 of all parties are sick of fighting the same battles of the 1960s over and over and over again. They don’t care about Jane Fonda. They don’t care about Woodstock. They don’t care about hippies. They think the Clinton years brought a great economy but also the mainstreaming of vivid descriptions of oral sex and constant, never ending gossip, drama and scandal. It’s the past and nothing about it will help solve health care, foreign policy or the economy of the rapidly changing 21st Century. For them — and me — Barack Obama represents in word and identity a way to move forward.

Other constituencies are split and deeply unsure of where to go.

What a battle! In a weird way it makes me wish that I could somehow tamp down my interest in politics so I could observe this thing dispassionately. I could barely sleep last night and I’ve been thinking about it all day.

I encourage all of you to read or watch Barack Obama’s speech from last night. An excerpt is below. If you want to live in a time that changes history you should be able to picture your leader’s words in a textbook. We don’t want to live in a slightly better country, we want to live in a great country.

We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can withstand the power of millions of voices calling for change.

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant in the weeks to come. We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check. We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.

But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. For when we have faced down impossible odds; when we’ve been told that we’re not ready, or that we shouldn’t try, or that we can’t, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people.

Yes we can.

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.

Yes we can.

It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom through the darkest of nights.

Yes we can.

It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.

Yes we can.

It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballot; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.

Yes we can to justice and equality. Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity. Yes we can heal this nation. Yes we can repair this world.

Yes we can.

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