Obama: The Birth of a Statesman

Barack Obama was a relative nobody on that fateful day in 2004 when he was tapped to deliver a speech at the Democratic National Convention for Presidential nominee, John Kerry. Most of the country had never heard of the skinny kid with the funny name that was about to take a diverse crowd of people, from all walks of life, and for at least a few brief moments, allow them to see the vision of a better America through the eyes of one another. They did not know that they had just witnessed the awakening of the human spirit in countless individuals that would be mesmerized and inspired by his message of hope and unity. They did not know, though I think the thought crossed a lot of minds, that almost four years later this man would be standing poised to take the helm of our great nation himself. At that moment, that precise moment, what America did know, is what it has been missing...a statesman.

Merriam-Webster's online dictionary defines a statesman as such: 1: one versed in the principles or art of government; especially: one actively engaged in conducting the business of a government or in shaping its policies 2: one who exercises political leadership wisely and without narrow partisanship

By definition, every politician fits the first criteria. It is the second definition that proves elusive to most, but it is the one that the Obama campaign is born from. What better example of exercising political leadership wisely than opposing the invasion of Iraq when it was popular not to. Go down the list of candidates and see where they fell on the issue when it was presented to them in October 2002. See who authorized a war that would cost us thousands of irreplaceable brave, young American lives. See who authorized a war that would rob our financial foundation of hundreds of millions of dollars a day, every day. See who favored an invasion that would undermine America's standing in the world as a beacon of righteousness and freedom. See who got it wrong. Some have since admitted as much. Some, even today, refuse to admit to an error in judgement and shoulder the responsibility for their actions. They lay the blame on faulty information. They try to mitigate their responsibility with phrases like, "If I only knew then, what I know now". Funny thing is, if they did know then what they know now, most would (and some have) make the same choice if the political winds told them that it was the popular thing to do. Barack opposed the war from the start. How many true statesmen (or stateswomen) remain on your list.

We have had a few true statesmen before. JFK was one. He was revered around the world. The day he was assassinated there was a collective broken heart that spanned the globe. He touched everyone with his vision, character, and charisma that invoked a vision of change for the common global good. A true statesman of the United States does not contain their vision to our borders. A true statesman understands that for us to be truly safe and content, we must strive to achieve a future of hope and the promise of a better life for all of us. A true statesman of the United States will unify the world to follow a path of peace by example and deed. They will galvanize the common interests that we all share. They will strive to achieve a better future for all generations that will follow and they will work to make it a reality instead of a utopian idea. JFK's wisdom and judgement were put to the test during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Thankfully, we had a statesman in charge and a possible catastrophe that could have mushroomed into a third world war was averted.

A true statesman is someone regal, someone that commands attention and respect with just their presence and tone. The bumbling guffaws of our current President make for great late-night television skits, but do nothing to cement us as the world power that was once held in high esteem. Etiquette and mannerisms of a leader are what form world's opinion of our country. It is assumed that in a democratic election, only the best of the best would be chosen from the masses and the individual ultimately chosen will define who we are and where we want to go as a nation, at home as well as abroad. The persona of our President is the window through which the world will make their judgements.

The rest of the equation to define a true statesman is to work without narrow partisanship. A polarizing figure has no chance to accomplish this. The fact is that a newcomer, someone not ingrained and beholden to the establishment, is realistically the only person that has a descent chance to break us out of the perpetual cycle of favors and back-room mafia-style politics that have been the norm for far too long. When I look at some of the candidates I can just hear Marlon Brando's Godfather voice saying, " Someday - and that day may never come - I'll call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, accept this justice as a gift". Who has taken the gifts? Who will be called upon to return an old favor without regard for our best interests?

Barack Obama was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He taught constitutional law. He could have easily cashed in his ticket for a mega-payday. Instead, he chose to follow a more noble path. He decided to forsake the big money and take a low paying job as a community organizer to help the disenfranchised in the south-side of Chicago that were struggling through an ugly time of plant closures. Jobs were gone and hope was fleeting. It is astounding that the only reason he went to Harvard (after graduating from Columbia) was that he noticed he did not have the ammunition and knowledge to effectively help his community on his first go-round as a community organizer. He went to perfect himself to be their champion. He championed the most sweeping ethics reform in Chicago's history. He championed healthcare for thousands of children that would otherwise have had none. He even laid the bi-paritisan groundwork to pass a bill that would require the video-taping of every interrogation of a capital case to ensure that coercion and false tactics were not used to condemn and imprison the innocent. These are the marks of someone with the character and moral constitution to put the suffering of others above his own. These are the qualities of a true statesman.

The real fight for your vote is just now beginning. The polls so far are driven more by name recognition than substance. In Iowa, where the voters get the privilege to hear, see, and touch the candidates more up-close and personal than the rest of us, the race is tight.

If you want America to be great again, you owe it to yourself to look through the politics of triangulation. You owe it to yourself to look at the substance of character. You owe it to yourself to get educated on all of the candidates' pasts, as that is what will give you a clear picture of how they will perform in the future. You not only owe it to yourselves, you owe it to the men and women of our great military fighting to keep you safe and free. You owe it to the elderly parents that raised us and are now deciding between food and medicine. You owe it to the child that has the will, ambition and drive to succeed, but does not have the money to attend college. You owe it to the children that will inherit a polluted planet with dirty air and rising sea-levels. You owe it to the family living in their car because they lost their house`due to a devastating illness that they were either under-insured or completely uninsured to handle. You owe it to each and every one of us that believes in the American dream.

We need a true statesman to be the vehicle of all our hopes and aspirations. We need a President that will not pander to us, but will tell us the truth even when it's hard to hear it. We need a President that will open the books of government spending and allow us to see where all the money goes. We need a President that can temper force with compassion. We need a President unafraid to negotiate with our enemies for fear that we will lose a propaganda war. We need a President to embody all of these things. We need the next true statesmen. Soon, the choice will be yours and there is no going back. Vote with your heart as well as your head and don't make this decision lightly. We will all have to live with it.