Obama on America
Conversation at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY
In commemoration of the first 100 days of this administration, instead of the letter I prepared, I want to share this link to the remarks made by Barack Obama a few weeks ago at Hamilton College. The conversation is posted above, and it’s very much worth listening to in its entirety. (Obama’s communication team has also posted a copy of the transcript here.)
But if you do nothing else, skip to the 14:00 mark.
There, you’ll hear his comments about democracies, how they work, and how they fail. As always, he’s extraordinarily careful, choosing his words precisely, and doing his best to not feed the outrage machine - even when speaking extemporaneously.
But beneath the calmness and the carefulness, the nuance and diplomacy, is an essential message, not just for the United States but for each and every nation that aspires to democracy.
In Day 58: Fork in the Road, I described the dawn of modern democracy, how 250 years ago, almost instantly, the whole of the human race took a previously unimaginable socio-evolutionary leap forward, and how the idea upended the kingdom structure societies had used essentially throughout recorded history. But something that radical and revolutionary doesn’t just appear fully worked out. We’d have to work it out:
But democracy was still just a theoretical. No one had ever seen it in practice. It was like the mountaintop Martin spoke of during his final sermon. On the other side is the Promised Land, but there was a long hard climb from here to there. Turning the idea of democracy into something real would take two-plus centuries. It’s the work we’ve been about since the end of the Revolutionary War; working out what a “for all” society even means, and how we go about building one.
Yet, right from the beginning, there was another segment of us that was content to not contest the ideals democracy extolled – as long as there was means to game it – to allow the “truly deserving” to rule. So, they built in protocols that shifted power in their favor, starting with the three-fifths compromise they strong-armed into the Constitution itself. This one point – whether the United States would become a society for just some, or for all – is essentially what all the struggle that has occurred since has been about.
President Obama, in his remarks, is unearthing the mechanics of this dynamic, even as it’s happening in real time.
But, for me, the most important facet is his recognition of this, where we are right now, as an extraordinary, superseding moment - one that completely eclipses things like parties and politics. This is not just another four-year period. This moment is something else entirely.
Yet, the same hope that’s at the core of Barack Obama still shines through. He makes it clear that the only way this is the end of our story is if we allow it to be.
“The most important office in this democracy,” he says, “Is the citizen.” He’s right.
Today is May 2, day 102 under this administration. We have just 564 days until the 2026 elections, 1,295 days until the 2028 elections, and 1,363 days until Martin’s 100th birthday. So, when do we fight? Today, tomorrow, and every day between now and then. Where do we fight? Anywhere and everywhere we see injustice occurring or oppression increasing. And, how do we fight? In every way we can.