Hope

Once again Pandora has loosed her precious remnant to the world. The last great president we had came from Hope. Once again America has turned to its heartland for succor. Turned to a son that made it on his own. A child of rural Alabama does not get to be a Rhodes Scholar and the son of an African does not get into Harvard Law School, by riding on the coattails of an illustrious father. Once again America turns to its strength, those that brought us to where we are with the strength of their backs, they put their faith in their children and put their dreams for themselves aside. They lived up over a tiny store and made sure that their children would have an education, would have enough to eat, and would never know the terror of a pogrom. These are not the genetic remnants of the eastern Protestant elite. And the newest hope has come from Chicago, that meatgrinder of humanity. A worthy heir of that city where the Poles of Eastern Europe put their broad shoulders to the wheels of industry, where the always recalcitrant Irish said "We will not have the old ways.", where the Italians threw off the yoke of centuries and said "We will go to church but we will not spend our lives there waiting for tomorrow, we will make tomorrow with our loins and our hands.". America's strength has always been the immigrants that came here looking for a better way. We cannot fence in the gene pool for it would become diluted and wither. The broad backs of the Mexican immigrants, the sharp minds and perseverance of the Asians, the centuries old wisdom and respect for family and elders of the Native Americans, are all coupled with fecund loins. These are resources and issues that must be addressed. Food, education, and hope for the newest generation are our only hope. President Obama will have to deal with a myriad of inherited problems but I think that he is the man to deal with the future. We fared well under the leadership of the man from Hope, we will fare well under the leadership of the man of hope. If we keep on the path we are on now, there will be fences along the Mexican and Canadian borders but they will not have been put there to keep them out, they will have been put there to keep us out. Thomas Hart Benton never got the chance to paint a presidential portrait but I'm sure he would have been proud of the scene we have now.