“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
Pretty impressive stuff. Those words form the opening stanza of the Declaration of Independence, penned by Thomas Jefferson more than 230 years ago.
They formed the backbone of a people looking to break away from the tyranny of the mother country, and envisioned a country where its citizens could become anything they set their sights upon.
Including growing up one day to be president.
Unless, of course, you happened to be a person of color. For them, certain parts of the American dream remained just that.
Until last night.
Amid the cacophony of partisan politics, it would be easy to lose sight of just what happened Tuesday night when Sen. Barack Obama captured the last few delegates needed to assure himself of the Democratic nomination.
In so doing he becomes the first African-American, or any person of color, to be the nominee of one of the major parties for president of these United States.
Ironically, in doing so he vanquished a similar dream, that of Sen. Hillary Clinton to be the first woman to be so nominated.
With either route, Democrats were set to make history.
Now they must make peace. Before he can turn his sights on his Republican foe, Sen. John McCain, Obama must heal the rift in his own party.
At the top of that list is just what role, if any, Clinton will have in the campaign. She gave no specific indication last night of her plans, although she did not appear to rule out accepting the vice presidential spot, if Obama was so inclined.
Since his surprising springboard out of the Iowa Caucus, through his rise from long-shot to favorite, Obama’s message has been the same: Change.
He certainly has delivered that. Along with no small dose of history along the way.
We all should take a moment to soak in just how important what happened Tuesday night really was. But only a moment.
Maybe even more historic will be the time when such an occurrence will be considered routine, instead of a pivotal moment in our history.
At least for one night, and hopefully from this point forward, when it comes to presidential politics, all men and women really are created equal.
Pretty impressive stuff. Those words form the opening stanza of the Declaration of Independence, penned by Thomas Jefferson more than 230 years ago.
They formed the backbone of a people looking to break away from the tyranny of the mother country, and envisioned a country where its citizens could become anything they set their sights upon.
Including growing up one day to be president.
Unless, of course, you happened to be a person of color. For them, certain parts of the American dream remained just that.
Until last night.
Amid the cacophony of partisan politics, it would be easy to lose sight of just what happened Tuesday night when Sen. Barack Obama captured the last few delegates needed to assure himself of the Democratic nomination.
In so doing he becomes the first African-American, or any person of color, to be the nominee of one of the major parties for president of these United States.
Ironically, in doing so he vanquished a similar dream, that of Sen. Hillary Clinton to be the first woman to be so nominated.
With either route, Democrats were set to make history.
Now they must make peace. Before he can turn his sights on his Republican foe, Sen. John McCain, Obama must heal the rift in his own party.
At the top of that list is just what role, if any, Clinton will have in the campaign. She gave no specific indication last night of her plans, although she did not appear to rule out accepting the vice presidential spot, if Obama was so inclined.
Since his surprising springboard out of the Iowa Caucus, through his rise from long-shot to favorite, Obama’s message has been the same: Change.
He certainly has delivered that. Along with no small dose of history along the way.
We all should take a moment to soak in just how important what happened Tuesday night really was. But only a moment.
Maybe even more historic will be the time when such an occurrence will be considered routine, instead of a pivotal moment in our history.
At least for one night, and hopefully from this point forward, when it comes to presidential politics, all men and women really are created equal.
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