Today, the son of a black Kenyan man and a white Hawaiian will be sworn in as President of the most powerful empire in the history of the world.
Some celebrate the ideal behind a “black” man becoming the President of the Unites States, and that’s not an unfair celebration.
But bigger than that is the celebration of the human story that Obama embodies.
He may be the first black President, but he comes to the job without a blood line tracing back to the slave era. That his skin color is black is a given but his picture is much greater.
Here is a man who didn’t naturally fit in to the conformity of race. His mother, having left Barack’s father took up with an Indonesian man, and Barack spent many years studying in Indonesia. He may not be Asian himself, but he has a half-sister who is, and a history that shares partially an Asian experience.
He is, in many ways, an obvious candidate for outcast. Never quite fitting in with his mixed bloodline, and mixed education. And yet he never let that hold him back. He embraced his African-American side while never forgetting his family, both black, white and Asian.
That he thrived, going on to Harvard, then later as a community worker then State politician is a testament to his tenacity.
This is a story of triumph. A true story based on the fairy tale that anyone can achieve should they work hard. Obama claims that his is uniquely an American story; it isn’t, but only to a point: only he has achieved the highest office on the planet.
Obama offers hope to many, and although he may disappoint, the story to this point remains sound: anyone can achieve anything.
May humanity bless the 44th President of the United States of America. I may believe there is no god, but I do believe that what we see today is something in the history of man that is quite unique, no matter how the next 8 years pans out.
