What I first notice when he arrives to greet people is his posture
and gesture. His body language is...natural. No formal "decorum," no
"distance" from people. No false heartiness. Also: this man, just come
from the Senate Hearing Room, working all day on nonstop high-pressure
campaigning, appears fully alert. His eyes are clear, intelligent,
interested, his expression open to everyone he talks to.
He is actually energized by what he's been doing all day. Gathering up
the microphone, comfortable, friendly, he greets us, "How y'all doin'?"
and starts right in:
"I'm running for president because it's time for a change!" he begins.
"And I'm asking for your help.... This is not just some black guy,
funny name, big ears," he says. "Damage has been done.... We need to
change a lot of things, and we need to do it with 'the fierce urgency
of now.'"
He will restore Habeas Corpus, close Guantánamo, and get us out of Iraq
by 2009, establish health care for all, repair this gargantuan deficit,
and raise taxes -- not for everyone but for the rich (my group). He
will run this government for all the people, not just the few: after
all, his support comprises ordinary Americans writing small checks.
Nothing from PACs or lobbyists. "They have not funded my campaign. They
will not run my White House -- or we'd still be in the same place 20
years from now. That's not getting stuff done."
Speaking, he keeps turning, connecting to every person there easily,
without artifice. In just a few minutes I could see what everyone in
the restaurant could see: This man is the genuine article.
He shakes hands all around. When he reaches me I hold his hand and tell
him, "I think you have the potential for greatness." He stops and looks
hard at me. "Let's hope I can realize it." And I say, "You will." And
he nods a little and moves on.
Thoughts
This dark time in our history. Seven years of government driven by
ideology, not reality: slap-dash management that gave us the Patriot
Act, the wrong war, a resurgent Taliban, an Al Qaeda reborn. What it
did not give us: Osama bin Laden or significant progress in the real
war against terrorism. And what it has done to America: erased the
separation of church and state, destroyed much of our Constitution,
left our nation without the structure of governance that had sustained
it for 230 years. So our government can now spy on us, jail us without
cause -- and, unthinkably, torture us! It has brought us close to
Totalitarianism, neglected our environment, turned generous surplus
into deep deficit, decimated our dollar and wrecked our economy, spread
our armed forces thin, squandered our international standing and the
credibility of our foreign policy -- while stripping us of our rights
as Americans to the Liberty so many have fought and given their lives
to preserve.
How has this happened? An unholy cabal of greed, power, fundamentalist
religious extremists and a lawless president who does anything he wants
and declares it legal -- have been creating and using "fear" and
"faith" to manipulate the nation. We now have a government not of laws
but of men. And we have simply --acquiesced. ("All that is necessary
for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.")
Barack Obama
Our darkest times have always produced our greatest leaders. Each time
their words -- obviously genuine -- have given us hope, raised us all
out of our parochial concerns and reminded us we are all in this
together. One such leader who appeared when we needed him told us,
"There is nothing to fear but fear itself." Another assured us "...that
this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that
government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not
perish from the earth."
A true leader can call us forth to something more than each of us. For
that leader we can pull ourselves out of this muck created by an
administration of inept men and women thinking only of themselves.
Answering a nation's call, a true leader can make us believe in hope
once again: "Hope is a belief in things not seen...that we can build a
better America." A genuine leader who can direct our gaze upward, away
from ourselves, who frankly and honestly tells us, "I can't do it
alone. I need your help." Meeting him in a restaurant in Washington,
seeing him face to face, I saw the potential for such greatness in this
man Barack Obama.
Kalkstein lives in Fayston.
