Friends, I’m going digress from talking about design to discuss something larger – something that happened last night.
Judging by Mr. Obama’s speech last night I imagine he would encourage keeping celebration and back-patting to a minimum. I am all for us, as a nation, putting our nose to the grindstone and rebuilding this country, but I am going to take a moment this morning and recognize the enormity of last night.
I hope some of you were there, in Grant Park. If you were you’ll know what I’m talking about; the energy in the air was unlike anything I have ever felt. All of downtown Chicago was turned into a pedestrian paradise. People were smiling, laughing, making eye contact, singing, shouting, in peaceful celebration.
The energy! The sound! Thousands – 160,000, so I hear – people of all skin colors, ages, ALL SMILING! All happy. You could feel the tension lift off the nation; the blanket of deceit, of lies, of disenfranchisement.
The roar that rolled over downtown Chicago like the wind, like the sea, the sound of some 160,000 people reacting when Ohio was won was perhaps the most profound single voice I’ve ever heard in my life. That, for me, was the defining moment; when everyone knew that it was really done, that it really happened. Everything after that was gravy – denoument, if you will.
So hopefully our new president will suffer me a moment to look around at all of you, my friends and colleagues, and enjoy a brief period of … relief? Optimism? Faith that our nation is a good place – the best place on earth? That America is a place to be proud of?
I don’t know what to call it; I have grown up thinking that the government was something to be mistrusted at best, fought against as a rule, and hated as the norm. I cut my political teeth drawing political cartoons of Reagan looming over the globe as the Grim Reaper, with a nuclear missile in one hand and a scythe in the other, for my junior high school newsletter. I grew up listening to Minor Threat, Dead Kennedys, and Public Enemy. I read Doonesbury and learned that Nixon was a crook, that Ford was a buffoon, that Carter was a patsy, and that Reagan was a senile cowboy. I have never looked at any government figure with optimism. I’ve respected some; but never have I felt trust. Not like I do for Mr. Obama. I trust him.
I have always been a staunch believer in the idealistic America. I tear up during the national anthem, or when I read the preamble to the Constitution aloud – no lie. But for the first time in my life the locus of what I understand America to be in abstract, and what it is in reality, overlap. They have a common element – and that is, miraculously, our President.
I don’t agree with a lot of his policy decisions. I think they are not radical enough. His energy policy is virtually indistinguishable from the Republicans, as is his plan for troop withdrawal in Iraq. But I honestly think that he would welcome hearing my opinion, and, most probably, if I knew what he knew, I would probably be convinced that he’s making the right call, given all the circumstances. I believe he is honest, and I believe in his commitment to this country – and what it COULD be. He holds the ideals of this country higher than those of the corporation, or the dollar. And that is something rare and worth celebrating.
So, my friends and colleagues – congratulations. I look forward to working hard with you all soon, and working behind a President I trust.
We were talking at the office this morning: how calm, how orderly, how.. relieved the crowd seemed to be. It seemed a collective sigh. As well as… having at least the possibility of our nation steering towards a better course. Although I could have seen it better from home, I couldn’t have experienced so many people, jubilant, hopeful… thinking about what we’ll need to do now that the real work must start.
If this election was not a mandate, then I don’t know what one is.
This Grant Park crowd was better behaved than the crowd there three weeks earlier when I finished the Chicago Marathon.
One request: Please do not let the State Department go on vacation like it did under Clinton Administration.
That is all.
Agreed. Nobody that was there, I think, would disagree that the real work is ahead – including Mr. Obama. He said as much in his speech. But though I’ve heard politicians in the past utter platitudes like “we must all come together across psrtisan lines” etc. etc., when Obama says it I believe he means it. His policies certainly show a willingness to be far more conservative than I would be in his shoes.
Indeed, the crowd was relieved. And not, I think, because “our guy” won – but because finally there’s a figure in a public office who actually seems like he might be able to truly represent everyone in the nation.
Amen, brother. Oh, I wish I could have been there! I miss Chicago – I appreciate you representing me. I’ve been seeing the relief on people’s faces today, more smiles than usual, and gas prices are down again. Life is good.
I look forward to dropping in on you and your design discussions. Cerebral you.
xxoo
Nice posts – I had ZERO idea you “…(H)ave always been a staunch believer in the idealistic America. I tear up during the national anthem, or when I read the preamble to the Constitution aloud – no lie.”
I feel the same way, but while I do feel Obama can/will make some key, initial decisions – but he does not have time on his side, as people and the political system are too shortsighted and ruthless. Thus, the first 100 days will be key. I really hope he can meet (possibly exceed) some of these astronomical expectations.
Agreed. I think the cover of the Chicago Reader said it best: a portrait of Obama with a banner underneath that read “Don’t Screw This Up.”
I’m watching the way he’s tooling up his cabinet, though, and the ways he’s handling the media: I think that he will do very well. I understand that his cabinet will be bi-partisan; the first criterion for serving is, according to his press guy on NPR, “excellence.” That is promising in its own right, after this last administration’s apparent value on “loyalty” or “being a yes man.”
We shall see. I am optimistic.
The whole world was watching Grant Park 40 years ago too. The people in the park 40 years ago would have loved to know the future, that in 40 years in the same location, such an answer to their dreams would manifest.