The Fierce Urgency of Now
It's phenomenal to have watched the inauguration week, and to be following along with this new President. Y'all know this as well as I do. I am so proud of my country.
Something I'm especially excited about is Obama's commitment to public service and grassroots community work. I have plenty of friends who are taken by policy, or planning, or economics, or academia, and there's certainly a place for all of that. But there are always going to be overeducated people looking for a job where they can isolate variables and solve problems in the abstract. It's a hell of a different story to bring change on a community level, in a manner that includes and engages everybody and tackles issues in a systemic rather than piecemeal fashion.
Turns out that's awfully difficult. An oversimplification, sure, but it's something I think a lot about these days.
Some thoughts on Obama, us, and the challenge ahead:
Ill Doctrine - As long as we're human, there will always be more work to do.
In his run-up speeches to this moment, Mr. Obama has been becomingly demure. If he doesn’t quite face the challenge that Lincoln faced, it’s still a lulu. He has striven to be realistic about just how steep the mountain is, but he doggedly and calmly exudes the audacity of hope upon which the premise of his potential greatness rests.