That description actually describes two major figures of American’s past half century: John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama. In 1960 Senator Kennedy was elected our 35th President, and the first Roman Catholic. Next month will Barack Obama be elected our 44th President, and the first African-American?
The fate of the Obama campaign is still in the hands of voters, a significant number of whom are expected to tell pollsters they will ignore the candidate’s race, but in fact will not. (Just ask former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, the respected African-American who lost the 1982 California gubernatorial election despite having been far ahead in the polls.) But the impression Obama has already made on American politics and culture is powerful and dramatic.
Obama’s background is more remarkable than what even most of his admirers see. The son of a black Kenyan man and a white American woman, he lost contact with his father as a toddler and lost his mother to cancer as a young adult. Making the most of formative influences from the black and white worlds he grew up in, he left his childhood Hawaii, moved to the United States, and forged a stellar academic career crowned by his election as president of Harvard’s Law Review.
His rapid ascent in Illinois politics transported him from State Senator in 1997 to U.S. Senator in 2004. His keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention put him in a national spotlight. Beyond criticizing the failures of the Bush administration, he movingly urged his country to find unity in its diversity.
Obama captured the Democratic nomination over the far more powerful presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton by taking the high ground and inspiring rather than attacking. While strongly advocating for justice and equity in an America whose social contract was under attack, he attracted devoted and passionate admirers form all corners of American society.
“He just connects well with middle America,” says Molly Roy of Sioux Falls, Iowa, “but even more importantly he has an agenda that matches his rhetoric.”
Enterprising Black Men asked Senator Obama whether his youth and limited experience should matter to voters. He replied quickly but thoughtfully: “I think the American people would rather have inexperience over incompetence. Our leadership has failed us, and unless we right this ship, the America we once knew and that was built on freedom and opportunity for all alike won’t exist. We are in a very dangerous period.”
There’s a keen intuitiveness in Obama’s cadence and a frankness about the state of America almost never heard from a major politician. He insists that politicians have forgotten their responsibility of serving the people, noting, “We have to be held accountable to society’s infractions. If it is our responsibility to legislate on behalf of our citizens, then we must pass laws that will serve them.”
Where did this unique perspective come from? As a teenager at Hawaii’s exclusive Punahou prep school, Obama began his journey by learning the teachings of civil rights leaders. “During that time is when I started to understand, race, and class,” he told EBM. He points to Dr. Martin Luther King’s courage and the ultimate sacrifice he made to abolish what he calls,” Extremists viewpoints.”
We asked the Senator if he felt privileged. He answered, “I do feel privileged in many ways and America has afforded us opportunities that are unparalleled, but we still have so far to go. In my travels during this campaign I’m seeing first-hand the decency of the American people. They are proudly embracing the idea of change. And together we are moving this campaign forward.”
A few weeks ago, EBM watched Sen. Obama in his first debate with Republican nominee Senator John McCain at the University of Mississippi. Obama seemed uncharacteristically down and defensive. We asked him if he had underestimated McCain. “No, Senator McCain is a very intelligent man, and his experience speaks for itself,” he replied.
We asked whether the younger Senator’s more modest experience would hinder him in any way. He quickly responded, “I think that will be answered this November.”
After we went back and forth over such issues as health care, border control and military force, he added, “Throughout my tenure as a senator I have done what is right as opposed to what is politically correct. I spoke out against going to war in Iraq even when it was unpopular, even at the peril of my career. Now it seems like the right thing to do; however, at the time it was career suicide. But to expect me to take shots at a war veteran is outside of my character. Furthermore, that’s just not smart politics; he was a decorated Prisoner of War.”
As the first African-American Presidential candidate, Obama faces an especially large challenge: eliciting pride and promise from both his fellow African-Americans and white Americans, without causing unnecessary fears or concerns in any Americans. So far, he has met this challenge honorably and courageously.
As our interview concluded, Senator Obama reiterated the urgency of change. “Currently we’re spending thirty billion dollars a week in fighting a war that was strategically mismanaged from the outset. In addition we are forcing the American people to bail out corporate executives on Wall Street at the cost of seven hundred billion dollars. With that being said, we must change our course before we are damaged irrevocably.
