Have you seen the speech Obama gave to his campaign staff and volunteers at his HQ in Chicago on June 6? It’s about thirteen minutes of pure unadulterated inspiration, pretty much free of campaign rhetoric and about the best boss-to-staff speech I’ve ever heard. He recalls how low he was last August, the last time he stood before them, and how he admitted to his gaffes and frailties but added “if you guys are willing to lift me up, and pull me across the finish line, then this thing could happen.”
And lo, it came to pass. After complimenting them for creating the best political organization in America, and encouraging them to “do what you do to get your ya-ya’s out — that’s an old sixties expression” he tells them how tough it’s going to be going forward.
“Understand coming back we’re going to have to work twice as hard. We’re going to have to be smarter, we’re going to have to be tougher, our game is going to have to be tighter… I’m going to have to be a better candidate and you’re going to have to be better at what you do… And we don’t have a choice. If we screw this up, all those people I met who really need help, they’re not going to get help. Those of you who are concerned about global warming, I don’t care what John McCain says, he’s not going to push that agenda hard. All of those concerned about Darfur, I guarantee they’re not going to spend any political capital on that. Those of you who are concerned about education, there will be a bunch of lip service and then there will be more of the same….”
We’ve all felt pressure on the job before, we’ve all struggled under some pretty heavy deadlines. But how often has your boss told you the fate of the nation, not to mention the planet and hot spots like Darfur, is in your hands? And a lot of these folks are volunteers! it’s like a St. Crispen’s Day speech for a bunch of kids (mostly) who’ve been living on coffee and donuts. “Now everybody’s counting on you, not just me. And I know that’s a heavy weight. but also what a magnificent position to find yourself in where the whole country is counting on you to change it for the better.”
The happy few listening look solemn, even teary at times. Those who accuse him of being messianic are missing the point. He is not asking us to embrace him as hero, he is asking us to be heroic ourselves, to work for the ideals we espouse. He is asking the world of those who believe in him and offering our country in return.
Sounds like a plan.
Sean: Obama is, indeed, an inspiring orator. But Shakespeare’s St. Crispin’s Day speech by Henry V? High praise. The gold standard for U.S. Presidents might be Dwight Eisenhower’s brief exortation to the U.S., British, and Allied troops on D-Day. General Eisenhower, eight years away from the presidency, spoke by radio: “Soldiers, sailors and airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force,” he said. “You are about to embark on the great crusade toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory. Good luck, and let us all beseech the blessing of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking.”
The real measure of Ike’s leadership might be found, however, in the communique he kept in his pocket that morning, something he’d written out in his own hand in case the great Normandy invasion failed: “Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold, and I have withdrawn the troops,” he wrote in that never-delivered missive. “If there is any blame or fault attached to the attempt, it is mine alone.”
I, too, have high hopes for Obama, but those are big historic shoes he’s attempting to fill.
ah but Ike got to write his! I think O just wings it a lot of the time. And I was being a little facetious in comparing his remarks to Hal’s. But thank god Ike didn’t have to give those other remarks!