Let Us Begin

Even the clattering dittoheads will acquiesce now.

This evening, amongst the Badlands and the Big Sky, the Junior Senator from the Land of Lincoln will be able to claim victory. Tonight, America will stand for change. Tonight, America will set the stage for the greatest electoral fight of our lives. For tonight, Barack Obama will, finally, be named officially the presumptive Democratic nominee for President of the United States.

Whether he gives a big speech or not, whether his now former opponent will make one final stand or not, whether his new opponent tries to crash the party or not, what tonight signals is a seismic shift in American thinking, in American policy, in the hearts of the American voter and, yes, in American history.

It has often been said that Slavery was this country's original sin. That the kidnapping, enforced labor, sale and genocide of an entire race of people was a major engine in the creation of this country, sadly, must always be acknowledged. Tonight, the presumptive nomination of Barack Obama, may finally begin to work back that stain on our history. A child of the Civil Rights Act, a citizen of the world, his was a candidacy and will be a government, built on a Perfect Political Storm to be sure, but one that has the opportunity to be transformational in nature.

Not merely transactional as many of his predecessors have been, bartering for votes and making concessions out of political expediency, but his was a candidacy and will be a government that will seek to transform American politics and government for generations to come.

He is the legacy of John Fitzgerald Kennedy in that way. He will have the gravitas, the will, the wherewithal, the drive, the determination and the guts to seek change across disciplines and interest groups, in many different segments of the American society. His Presidency will be the next great step in the American Experiment. His is the promise of a new generation.

We may not see the change promised in the next financial quarter, or the next four or eight years, or even in this generation or in our lifetimes. And thus, from the candidate on down, the time has come together as a party, and as a country and as a society and support Barack Obama.

For it will all be a dream without hard work.

The fight of our lives is upon us and will yield the promise of a new American century. Let us begin.