State of the Union

I've never felt a sense of nationalism before. I've always identified with others more so on the basis of race than ethnicity or nationality. As I watched President Obama address the nation last night, I really understood what it meant to be proud of one's country and to unite around the principle of nationhood. It wasn't that I wished harm upon the nation or did not want the country to succeed, I just felt like the success of the nation was separate and apart from me or that I had no say in the direction that the nation would take. I always felt like an outsider looking in watching people make decisions about the course of the nation and it's citizens fate with utter disregard for our unique vantage points and perspectives.

For as far back as I can recall, the government has been an entity shrouded in secrecy, rife with corruption and backroom deals. Presidents and Congress seemed to be running the nation from some self designated pedestal. Their approach to governance seemed to be that of an aristocratic elite, smarter and better suited somehow to guide the people; justified in their efforts to make decisions without the support or consensus of we the people. Last night I heard the president, for the first time in my lifetime, appeal to the will of the people.

Reading the Constitution it appears that the "founding fathers" made the qualifications to hold public office simple by design. Escaping the firm grip of a monarchy "ordained by God" to subjugate, over-tax and wrongfully imprison its citizenry, surely influenced the political perspectives of the "founders." Although their experience did not lead them to see the obvious wrongs of chattel slavery and sexism, it indubitably roused their desire establish a government that was more representative and less oppressive than a monarchy based in the principle of divine right. And yet somehow, after the revolutionary war to establish the union and a civil war to preserve it, the country metamorphosed into an imperialistic, war mongering, torturing, empire, led by a god-head/president who thought it more prudent to abandon the rules of law & evidence and to rely on his instincts masked as messages from God. Last night, President Obama reassured us that America's future will be representative of the people again, enhanced to be more inclusive and reflective of all Americans.

For the first time in my entire life I feel like I can consider myself to be American. I feel like the person sitting in the Oval Office is my president. I feel personally accountable for the success of not just my immediate circle of family and community but the larger circle of nation. (I'd always skipped nation even though I felt like a global citizen.) And interestingly enough my feelings are not predicated on President Obama's race. I am proud of President Obama because I sense that he has a genuine desire to understand and incorporate the viewpoints of all people. His desire to encourage everyone to break free of the chains that bind them--the lie that you are second class because of your gender or race, the lie that you can not reach your desired level of greatness, the lie that you are somehow better or worse than anyone else because of your access to or denial of privileges, the idea that false racial or gender based or caste based constructs can be eradicated by acknowledging their presence and by providing everyone with not only equal opportunity but also equal access--is laudable.

To paraphrase author Ayi Kwei Armah, the greatest leadership comes in the form of inspiration. Given President Obama's first state of the union address, he has a keen sense of true leadership.