I Shook Hands with Barack Obama

On Sunday a couple of buddies and I went on a trek down to the Midwest. It was to watch Barack Obama speak at a rally in Youngstown, Ohio – the heart of Rustbelt, USA.

We waited in line in the bitter cold. It was well worth it because we got up right up to the front of the auditorium. Interesting crowd, a mix between loyal Obama supporters who’d driven in from out of town/out of state, and locals. And you could always tell the locals, probably unemployed, because they had a look of loss and bleakness in this morbid, desolate industrial town that had clearly seen better days. What better place, then, for Obama’s platform of change.

We waited two hours or so. Then Senator Obama took to the stage. Commanding presence. Strong, unwavering voice. Brilliant orator. He had all 6,000+ in the auditorium enraptured from the very first minute. And it was stirring to see a man stand before me articulate far more better than I ever could the problems that plague America, and the things that need to be done to bring about change.

I think this guy is the real deal. When he purports to be a man that stands above the petty partisan politics that pervades Washington, a man that will bring the nation together, you believe him. Because there is a sincerity about Barack Obama – a genuineness, a decent guy quality that is far too uncommon in the smarmy world of politics. “I’m not here to tell America what it wants to hear. I’m here to tell America what it needs to hear” - how often do you hear that?

And there is also a decency about him, a likeability; he doesn’t come across as a guy who believes he’s too smart to talk to you, and if there’s anything Americans like it’s a folksy kinda guy… Boston Brahmin Kerry learned the hard way. Moreover, I like Obama because I see a bit of myself in him and him in myself – a man of a darker hue with an unusual name, a man of humble roots, a man who struggled to reconcile his bicultural identity, a deep thinker, a man who shares the same concerns for the welfare of his people... even his diction and manner of speaking.


It always strikes me as ironic when Hillary and the likes berate Barack for “empty platitudes” – that his stirring campaign of hope, of change, of holding America to its promise – is predicated on naïve optimism. I think this sentiment is far too symptomatic of the all-pervasive cynicism of the political climate today – I mean there’s a reason why The Colbert Report is such a hit. We need to get back to the days when America stood as a beacon of hope, when America was on the frontier of science and innovation, when Kennedy challenged the nation to fly to the moon, when Americans dared to dream of a better tomorrow. I can’t help but think that this man is our generation’s JFK.

And while I’m not a big fan of the US in its present form, I’ve always been enchanted by the romance of the ideals on which the very idea of America is predicated – liberty, democracy, progress, opportunity, emancipation from the shackles of tyranny.

Barack Obama will hold America to its promise.