One for history

Leadership is a hard trait to define, oratory is a disappearing skill, political visionaries are a vanishing species, and all of these together-- a illusory hope. Till today. What Barak did with that speech today was define the national dialogue for us on race. Of late, America had borrowed social-vision, from Gandhi, from Churchill, and even from scripture.

Today, once again, Barak authored a new vision for US polity, a new script for the national discourse. He may not become President, and surely this speech in itself does not qualify him to, but he presented a compelling new visage for Leadership in America. From now on, the face of a black person will not ill-fit the image of POTUS. From now on, black leaders are not misfits on the political stage, they have become legit.

Barak's speech was not the smartest political maneuver, and it did little to convince us that we should necessarily vote for him. He did, however, make himself a compelling, authentic, and profound social commentator.

The gentlemen that preceded him 200 years ago in Philadelphia are unknown to me, each participant, by name. But they are know to all Humanity as the authors of a new chapter in Humanity. They didn't all aspire to, deserve, or win presidency. Neither might Barak Obama. They did create documents that stand as philosophical, literary, moral, and lastly, political, masterpieces. Human history of the last two centuries owes moral debt to the ideals of liberty enshrined in and birthed by those tomes. So does Barak's speech. It is not for his own political career, nor is it an apology for Black rage, it is a speech that speaks to Humanity. It is one for the ages.

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