Into the breach

Did you stay up late the other night to watch our president-elect's speech? I wouldn't have missed it for the world (even if the other guy had won).

Political speeches don't get much more inspiring or memorable than the one made by Barack Obama on Tuesday in Chicago. Like FDR's "nothing to fear" and King's "I have a dream," the significance of Obama's remarks is largely a function of their powerful moment in history. It should be acknowledged, however, that the speech's substance and its delivery matched the magnitude of the moment.

We've been hurting, over the last eight years, for lack of a leader capable of articulating an argument, a vision or a plan.

One particular sentence in Obama's speech encapsulated the moment for me, complete with echoes of Shakespeare's Henry V (both Act III, Scene i and Act IV, Scene iii, if you're following along in your Riverside, Oxford or Arden):

"It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America."

Let's hope enough of us embrace this optimism — which in practical terms is only a rare opportunity for change rather than a change or accomplishment in itself — that the nation can capitalize on it. If one half of the country wants to move forward and the other half wants to stand still or move back, we'll only continue to tear ourselves apart. Tuesday's election represents the best opportunity we've had in at least a decade (if not three-quarters of a century) to make significant advances toward the causes of justice, peace, human rights, scientific inquiry, intellectual and artistic achievement, economic stability and environmental sustainabilty. Is that too much to ask?

In case you missed it, here's the speech: