Yes, We Can - Or Can We?
On November 4, 2008, after winning that year’s U.S. presidential election, Barack Obama gave a victory speech before a crowd of 240,000 in his hometown of Chicago. Using Abraham Lincoln as both an inspiration for his speech and a guide for his ideology, the president-elect told his listeners, "As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, 'We are not enemies but friends.”
2008 was a dark time for America. Two wars were in progress and the country was experiencing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. As a result, morale was at a serious low, but Obama believed unity was still possible.
He reminded the crowd that his campaign was built and sustained by working people like themselves, not the politicians who worked in the halls of Washington, proving that “a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth.” His speech had a clear message: together we can accomplish great and positive things.
When I recently re-watched his speech on YouTube, it gave me goosebumps. Despite the wars and the financial calamity, Barack Obama was positive that a better future awaited, and that if we worked together, we could achieve it. If a grassroots effort could get a president elected, what more could be accomplished by unity? Not just in America, but across the world?
"This is your victory,” he reminded them.
That speech was a singular moment in time. The ironic part is that nine years later, I think we have gone backwards, and there is more hate and terror dividing us than anyone could have imagined even during the dark days of 2008. Every time we pick up a newspaper, the headlines are broadcasting stories of fraud, racism, genocide and even the possibility of nuclear war ahead. Every week we hear about mass killings committed by people who can’t control their hate.
I’m wondering when we are going to return to Obama’s original vision of working together to do good. Sure, ‘good’ is being done every day in every corner of the world but it’s not making headlines. Hate sells, it seems, and its popularity makes it easier to forget what great things we are capable of accomplishing if we overlook our differences and focus on common goals.
How do we work towards Barack Obama's message of "Yes, we can"?