From the President's Desk

The Better Angels of Our Nature

The search for meaning in the political career of Barack Obama—an undertaking that produced a torrent of opinion while he was a mere presidential candidate—has now become a tidal wave with his election as the 44th president of the United States. Such a task has engaged pundits and analysts of every stripe and, it seems, from just about everywhere. I am sure many of you were as struck as I was by the images of celebratory reaction from around the world when it became clear on Election Day that Obama had been elected to the highest office in our nation.

Such has not been the response to the outcome of a presidential election in our country— perhaps any country—ever. Of course, much of that global reaction can be attributed to fascination with the election of the first African American to the presidency and the ability through technology to capture instantaneously the moving images of joyous celebrants from small villages in Africa to capital cities in Europe.

Certain themes that prevailed throughout the race now define the search for meaning in its outcome. For months—an eternity it seems to some—we were bombarded with messages about how this was the “most important election” in American history since 1932, when the Great Depression absorbed our political attentions, or how this was a “turning point” election, a defining moment in our nation’s history.

Part of this sense of something extraordinary was the stark contrast between a candidate who talked about hope and an administration that has focused on fear. In many respects, cast in the shadow of George W. Bush, John McCain never had a chance. Because if Obama’s message of hope could be articulated clearly and compellingly, it could tap into an essential element of the American character that is more optimistic than pessimistic, more hopeful than hateful, and able to rise above material self-interest and a fortress mentality against foreign threats as explanations for our national purpose.

Listening to the reactions of ordinary people in this country after the election, I was drawn to two observations. First, I was impressed by how many of our fellow citizens saw the election as another great step forward in our struggle to achieve civil rights, not just for African Americans, but for all. These were usually not elaborate expositions on “American exceptionalism” but, rather, simple affirmations that this country does stand for freedom and equality, as hard, sometimes, as they are to define or to put into public policy. But these ideals are real, and they are at the core of what it means to be an American and to endure sacrifice to attain them.

Second, I was drawn to words that Obama spoke at the very outset of his campaign on a cold Illinois morning in February 2007. He said: “For as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on earth is my story even possible.” Indeed, the story of a 47-year-old man, born of a black African father and white mother, raised in Muslim Indonesia, then entrusted to his white grandparents in Hawaii, and elected to the presidency seems absolutely preposterous. But in this country it has been revealed to be entirely possible.

From time to time, we all need to be reminded of what is possible. And what still can be, and still needs to be, overcome. The hate-filled rhetoric and acts of disrespect and racism that marred the last days of the presidential campaign, both locally and nationally, underscored the painful truth that our most cherished ideals have not been fully realized. They compel us to recognize, as Martin Luther King observed, that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

The election of an African American to the presidency will not, in and of itself, root out racism and intolerance in our country. Obama’s victory, after all, represents an evolutionary transformation towards black integration in American life, not an instantaneous or ahistorical achievement. But it signals attainment that should be celebrated and momentum that should be accelerated.

In his speech acknowledging his great victory, Obama reflected on the divisiveness of the campaign and invoked the voice of another man from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, who faced daunting challenges upon ascending to the presidency in 1861. Lincoln appealed to “the better angels of our nature” to come together and reaffirm the virtues of our Union. Hope is at the heart of our nation and, when that is revealed, as it has been in this election of 2008, it affects and inspires all of us to be a little kinder, a little more respectful, and a little more tolerant in our personal interactions as well as our national behaviors.

—Paul J. Zingg, President