An Education Policy to Get Things Started

I’ve had this problem lately. After coming of age in the middle of Republican dominance, having to read about GOP legislative victories over bad policy, the trampling of civil liberties, and the prosecution of inept wars, the political events of 2008 and 2009 still seem like something of a dream to me. This week, as I was reading the Youngstown Vindicator, a regional newspaper covering my hometown, I saw another surprise — an education policy that is innovative and progressive!

The governor wants to expand the school year by 20 days to an average of 200 days over the next 10 years.

Strickland … is also calling for the end of “the outdated practice of giving our most impressionable students only a half-day of learning. Ohio will now require universal all-day kindergarten.” The governor also called for the end of the Ohio graduation test and replace it with the ACT college entrance test and “three additional measures.”

Those measures are: statewide ‘end of course’ exams, complete a service learning project, and submit a senior project.

“Students will, of course, continue to learn the timeless core subjects like math and science that are critical to their success,” he said at today’s State of the State address. “But we will also add new topics including global awareness and life skills to the curriculum. And we will use teaching methods that foster creativity and innovation, critical thinking and problem solving, communication and collaboration, media literacy, leadership and productivity, cultural awareness, adaptability and accountability.”

Strickland said his proposed two-year budget will increase the state’s share of the cost of school funding and reduce the reliance on property tax.

Governor Strickland is also aiming to improve the quality of teachers in the classroom in Ohio with an innovative residency program.

…“Just as future doctors begin their careers under the watchful eye of an experienced colleague, we will give our new teachers the benefit of thoughtful guidance from an accomplished senior teacher. After a four-year residency, successful candidates will earn their professional teaching license.”

Since August, I’ve been discussing the need for elementary and high school curriculum to go beyond the trendy math and hard sciences that not-so-qualified teachers try to teach. And now here comes Strickland with policy that would educate students as if they’re — surprise! — future citizens of a country that is facing sustained competition. Understanding global languages and culture is going to be more important than ever as we move forward. It’s not just about jobs, and Strickland seems to recognize that here.

18-24 Year Old Reading Rate Surges

An interesting finding from the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA):

- Since 2002, 18 to 24 year olds have seen the biggest increase (nine percent) in literary reading, and the most rapid rate of increase (21 percent)

- This jump in young adults reversed a 20 percent rate of decline in the 2002 survey, the steepest rate of decline since the NEA survey began.

- Reading is an important indicator of positive individual and social behavior patterns. Previous NEA research has shown that literary readers volunteer, attend arts and sports events, do outdoor activities, and exercise at higher rates than non-readers.

I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that Millennials are readers, given what we know about their civic disposition.

I’m guessing it probably doesn’t hurt to have an intellectual as a president again either, especially given our last president’s reading prowess.

Is ‘Service’ Really the Best Word?

Frances Moore Lappe wrote a piece on Huffington Post amid the inauguration festivities this week asking whether “service” is really the best word/tool to use when intensifying national civic engagement efforts.

My own hesitation about the service frame is simple: If I serve, someone else is being served. If I serve, I act, but the other — the beneficiary — does not. Making ourselves servants, we might also ignore our own legitimate needs as well as be tempted to imagine we already know what others’ needs are. In any case “service” seems to create two classes: the givers and the receivers.

And that’s a big problem. Doesn’t this dichotomy help blind us to the reality of the human condition that Martin Luther King, Jr. called us to see? In his “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” he wrote, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.”

Lappe goes on to point out that serving is about more than the “helper’s high” that 95 percent of volunteers reported feeling in a recent study, as a result of helping others. Creating King’s “network of mutuality” leads to developing a “liberation of talents,” that, once relieved from oppression, can bolster our society.

So, instead of “serving” others, which continues the oppression of the receivers’ skills, Lappe argues that we should be sure that a partnership exists that uses the talents of all stakeholders — group problem-solving instead of service.

Lappe cites Obama in this post, given his example as a community organizer with an affiliate of Gamaleil, a large Chicago-based advocacy network, supporting activist leaders of low-income communities. What’s intriguing to me is that I saw Obama’s experience with this approach come into play when he was in Erie last April.

A gentleman asked Obama a question in the town hall portion of the event in which he laid out the problems he was having in his life and essentially asked, “What are you going to do for me?” Instead of providing a litany of policy prescriptions, Obama first asserted that the appropriate first question was, “What are you going to do for yourself,” and then he went on to speak about responsibility, much like he did in his inaugural address.

In a world with rapidly growing technology that breeds an efficiency-first approach, Lappe’s argument and Obama’s philosophy reminds us that even though fixing another’s problem might make us feel good, it doesn’t do anything long-term for society. We should be doing all that we can to collaborate, pool resources, skills, and gifts, and tackle our challenges together.

UCLA Freshman Survey Points to Increased Participation and Liberalism of Future Electorate.. If Dems Keep 50 State Strategy

While President Obama’s inauguration was an obvious sign this week that the country will be getting more progressive in the coming years, there was some quiet foreshadowing accompanying the festivities that bore witness to just how progressive the nation can be.

In the 2008 CIRP (Cooperative Institutional Research Program) Freshman Survey, an annual survey of the nation’s incoming college students administered by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, respondents identified themselves as “liberals” at a rate not seen in several decades. But, as we know, they’re not sitting on the political sidelines — far from it. This group of freshmen is more politically engaged than any other freshman class in the last 40 years.

From the survey’s website:

College freshman [sic] are more politically engaged today than at any point during the last 40 years, with 89.5 percent reporting that they frequently or occasionally discussed politics in the last year, according to UCLA’s annual survey of the nation’s entering students at four-year institutions.

The portion of incoming freshmen who frequently discussed politics in the last year – 35.6 percent – surpasses the 33.6 percent level recorded in 1968, itself a 40-year high mark of student political engagement. The 2008 level was also higher than in other recent presidential election years, including 1992 (29.7 percent), when Bill Clinton was elected, the survey found.

[...]

An increase was also seen in the proportion of students who characterize themselves as liberal, which reached its highest level in 35 years in 2008, at 31.0 percent. The percentage of incoming students who characterize themselves as politically middle-of-the-road, however, has seen a steady decline and in 2008 reached an all-time low of 43.3 percent, roughly the same percentage as in 1970. One in five students (20.7 percent) identified themselves as conservative in 2008, down from 23.1 percent in 2007.

These numbers seem to indicate that parties are headed toward another golden age. The “party period” in American history sets the standard:

The period from 1840 to 1890 has been labeled “the party period” and “the golden age of parties” because the major political parties (Democrats and Whigs until the mid-1850s, then Democrats and Republicans) were the strongest they have been in American history. Party leaders used patronage and campaign practices that aroused partisan enthusiasm to gain wide membership and keep them loyal and active. It worked. Voter turnout during this period was the highest in American history: between 70 and 80 percent for presidential elections and sometimes higher in state and local contests.

Throughout history, we’ve learned that increased polarization leads to increased participation. While this particular survey only includes college students, history has proven the survey’s accuracy in representing political trends over the years. And so, with polarization and engagement up big among the young people questioned in this survey, political participation should stay sky-high for quite some time, given polarization’s connection with participation and the stickiness of youth voting habits.

However, we can’t solely rely on trends to be successful at shaping the future electorate. And this is where Tim Kaine’s chairmanship becomes so important. The “Party Period” described above was crafted by political machines, or local parties on steroids. In order to cultivate the partisanship that breeds participation, Tip O’Neill’s localism was channeled from the future. Community picnics, socials, and rallies were prevalent, all organized by the local party. Politics invaded many areas of everyday life; many citizens couldn’t avoid it even if they wanted to — and they didn’t. Howard Dean’s 50 State Strategy, while certainly not a machine, made the Democratic Party more tangible to people. Suddenly Democrats were being locally organized everywhere, and whether citizens agreed with them or not, they couldn’t keep these newcomers from increasing the amount of political rhetoric and debate in their communities. Consequently, many more people were forced to process political ideas, leading to some sort of political identification that wouldn’t have been there prior to Dean’s chairmanship.

With the party four years into a transformational strategy and with a titanic generation sympathizing with liberalism at a record rate, the stage is set for the Democratic Party to define politics for a generation. But the party needs to milk this trend for all that it’s worth. Dean’s localism should be strengthened, incorporating increasing numbers of people into the party by becoming socially active, whether it’s through volunteer work, sponsoring community events, maintaining a presence at as many small-town fairs and parades as possible, and of course, continuing to allocate dollars to regional parties that atrophied during the last third of the 20th Century.

Finally, Democrats (especially the Obama administration) need to avoid at all costs the idea that youth should be relegated to service; youth should be heavily involved in the party’s strategic planning and day-to-day operations. More on that to come soon.

Technology versus Security

A profound post by Matt Compton at Democratic Strategist questions whether the Presidential Records Act that Congress passed in 1978 is applicable in today’s internet-based office environment.

Email had been invented seven years earlier in a project funded by the Department of Defense, but it’s hard to imagine that the authors of the Presidential Records Act could have foreseen a government which put instant, electronic communication into widespread use. To ask anyone at the time to imagine the sprawling, interconnected world of the Internet as it is today would have been laughable.

And yet this 1978 law still dictates how the executive branch does business.

During the election, the Obama campaign was deeply immersed in the world of the Internet, and we’ve spent a lot of time talking about the brilliance of the external online strategy. But much less has been made of how well Obama for America as an organization used the Web internally.

Staffers used online tools to share documents, built wikis to train volunteers, used Facebook to build get to know each other. And throughout it all, the staff — from David Axlerod on down — maintained a continuous conversation through instant messenger.

It now looks, however, like that practice will be put to an end.

Citing both the requirements of the Presidential Records Act and security concerns, lawyers for the incoming administration have told staffers that they will not be able to use instant messenger in the White House. They will forgo the use of an official Facebook account as a tool to communicate with supporters. They won’t be allowed to bring in USB drives to take work home. Access to many websites will be restricted. And in many cases, the computers at their desks will be dated and running old Windows software.

While cybersafety and national security are heavy issues in this debate, isn’t a lack of creativity and transparency a threat as well? As we move into the 21st Century in an unenviable position, shouldn’t we be doing everything we can to do things the best that we can? I don’t think “the best” involves blocking websites and limiting the White House’s access to outside sources and opinions. Certainly, we can’t have a White House haphazardly wading into cyberspace, but, as Compton notes, the NSA and other agencies worked on his Blackberry to make it secure. We should be doing the same with the online presence in the White House.

MSNBC Wants to Compete at 10:00

MSNBC sees an opportunity. From the Times:

Building on the momentum of its prime-time hours, MSNBC is developing a 10 p.m. program that would complement its left-leaning evening lineup, the cable news channel’s president said this week.

A new program could increase the competition between MSNBC, a unit of NBC Universal, and its two chief competitors, Fox News Channel and CNN, for news viewers in the time slot. Unlike most major networks, MSNBC’s original programming ends at 10 each weeknight. The 8 p.m. program “Countdown With Keith Olbermann” is rerun at 10 p.m., where it usually ranks third.

But Phil Griffin, the president of MSNBC, is making 10 p.m. a priority now. In an interview on Tuesday in a studio on the Mall, hours after the inauguration of President Obama, Mr. Griffin said that the channel needed a third original show in its lineup.

“We can’t let this momentum stop,” he said.

There is no obvious candidate to host the 10 p.m. hour; the network seems to lack a substantial bench of opinionated hosts-in-waiting.

I don’t see who they put in that slot.

Later on in the article, Griffin says that he doesn’t want to create a splash with a celebrity signing, wishing instead for the process to be “organic.” Whoever this is will need to impress while filling in on Countdown or Maddow, but out of those analysts left at the network, can you really see anyone developing that necessary charisma?

Of course, just putting something original on the air will help MSNBC compete, but Griffin knows he has a huge opportunity to solidify the network’s brand by hiring for this slot.

I suppose we’ll all have to wait and see.

‘Creativity’ and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Because I am 1.) a speech fanatic and 2.) required to stay up to continually check on a student in the hospital, I decided to take some time and listen to/watch the “I Have a Dream” speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The speech, currently ranked first out of the top 100 speeches of all time by American Rhetoric, can be seen, heard, and read at that website.

I’ve read/heard the speech before, but as I was reading/listening to the speech this time, a particular word kept standing out to me — “creative.” When I heard this the first time, I thought it interesting that King chose that word. But then when I read it a second time, I zeroed in on it, looking for an ulterior motive.

Let’s take a look at the first use of the word

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The thing that struck me in this usage of the word is that this “creative” is not being used in the way that we usually use it — something seems off from the normal use of the word. Notice the word “degenerate” immediately following, and then let’s zoom in on the word “creative.” “Degenerate” signals that something that is either fully or partially put together is falling apart. With this in mind, “creative,” if it’s used as a balance for the sentence, must be used in a literal sense. King is actually talking about building something from the protest. This “rising to the majestic heights” will occur by building on this one-of-a-kind protest (inspired by Ghandi).

King uses the word “creative” again when he addresses those who have already paid the price for the movement, those civil rights activists who were already beaten and jailed.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest — quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

King again uses “creative,” a word that has a normally positive connotation, in a setting that is negative. Surrounded by words like “storm,” “persecution,” “staggered,” “brutality,” and “suffering,” “creative” is certainly distinguished in that group. The meaning that came forth in our previous experience with the word seems to fit here, too. King could have used “suffering” alone, leaving out creative altogether. But he didn’t. Which means that “creative suffering” may also mean “suffering with a purpose,” or suffering that produces or yields something in King’s head. “Creative” once more is not used in a fun manner like we use it today; King uses it more seriously to describe nouns in a manner that signifies progress, literally, “creation.”

One of the things I have observed over the past few days is this renewed effort to be “creative.” People, in these tough times, want to work together to solve the myriad set of problems facing us. Yes, much of the reason behind this desire may have something to do with the election and inauguration of President Obama. But King’s brand of “creativity” demands more than one servant leader. If we Americans have learned anything from King’s message, it is that times of trouble and suffering is when we should be finding our own creativity — the ability to create something out of very little. This is just one more link between King’s message and the celebration of Obama’s election played out over the last couple months, but I believe it’s an important one.

Some Members of Obama’s Cabinet Confirmed by Senate

The Senate got to work after the ceremony today, confirming a handful of his appointees.

By unanimous consent, the Senate has just confirmed Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy; Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education; Janet Napolitano, for Homeland Security, Peter Orszag as Director of the office of Management and Budget; Ken Salazar as Secretary of the Interior; Eric K. Shinseki as Secretary of Veterans Affairs; and Tom Vilsack as Secretary of Agriculture.

While they’re not the most glamorous positions of the new cabinet, at least it’s a start.  Hillary Clinton, the most high profile nominee of the Obama cabinet, is being held up in the Senate by Texas senator John Cornyn, who still has concerns regarding former president Bill Clinton’s international dealings.

President Obama’s Inaugural Address Transcript

The full text of the inaugural address:

My fellow citizens:

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors.  I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.  The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace.  Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms.  At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been.  So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood.  Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred.  Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.  Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered.  Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics.  Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land – a nagging fear that America’s decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real.  They are serious and they are many.  They will not be met easily or in a short span of time.  But know this, America –  they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things.  The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation:  the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given.  It must be earned.  Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less.  It has not been the path for the faint-hearted – for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame.  Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things – some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life.  They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today.  We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth.  Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began.  Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year.  Our capacity remains undiminished.  But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions – that time has surely passed.  Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done.  The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act – not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth.  We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.  We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost.  We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.  And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.  All this we can do.  And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions – who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans.  Their memories are short.  For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them – that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply.  The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works – whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.  Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward.  Where the answer is no, programs will end.  And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account – to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day – because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill.  Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control – and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.  The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart – not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.  Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations.  Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake.  And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born:  know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.  They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please.  Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy.  Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort – even greater cooperation and understanding between nations.  We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan.  With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet.  We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness.  We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus – and non-believers.  We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.  To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West – know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.  To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds.  And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world’s resources without regard to effect.  For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains.  They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages.  We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves.  And yet, at this moment – a moment that will define a generation – it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.  It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours.  It is the firefighter’s courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent’s willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new.  The instruments with which we meet them may be new.  But those values upon which our success depends – hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism – these things are old.  These things are true.  They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history.  What is demanded then is a return to these truths.  What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility – a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence – the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed – why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled.  In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river.  The capital was abandoned.  The enemy was advancing.  The snow was stained with blood.  At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

“Let it be told to the future world…that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive…that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it].”

America.  In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words.  With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come.  Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Obama’s Inauguration: It Comes Back to Iowa

Over a year ago, on January 3, 2008, the political world was torn upside down. This relative newcomer, Barack Obama, a youthful senator from Illinois, beat the Clinton machine and shocked political observers by taking first place in the Iowa Democratic Caucuses.

This was the moment which propelled Obama forward, launching him into a half-year-long battle for the ages with Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

As such, on the verge of a historic day tomorrow, I thought I’d post that acceptance speech. This speech, to me, more than any other, foreshadowed what was coming, long before many “experienced” political junkies and operatives could see it.

Do yourself a favor and read every word. And then take in tomorrow, appreciating everything you can about it, keeping in mind that this is only possible in the United States. As Tim Russert might say, “What a country.”

Enjoy.

You know, they said this day would never come. They said our sights were set too high. They said this country was too divided, too disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose.

But on this January night, at this defining moment in history, you have done what the cynics said we couldn’t do.

You have done what the state of New Hampshire can do in five days. You have done what America can do in this new year, 2008.

In lines that stretched around schools and churches, in small towns and in big cities, you came together as Democrats, Republicans and independents, to stand up and say that we are one nation. We are one people. And our time for change has come.

You said the time has come to move beyond the bitterness and pettiness and anger that’s consumed Washington.

To end the political strategy that’s been all about division, and instead make it about addition. To build a coalition for change that stretches through red states and blue states.

Because that’s how we’ll win in November, and that’s how we’ll finally meet the challenges that we face as a nation.

We are choosing hope over fear. We’re choosing unity over division,

You said the time has come to tell the lobbyists who think their money and their influence speak louder than our voices that they don’t own this government – we do. And we are here to take it back.

The time has come for a president who will be honest about the choices and the challenges we face, who will listen to you and learn from you, even when we disagree, who won’t just tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to know.

And in New Hampshire, if you give me the same chance that Iowa did tonight, I will be that president for America.

I’ll be a president who finally makes health care affordable and available to every single American, the same way I expanded health care in Illinois, by by bringing Democrats and Republicans together to get the job done. I’ll be a president who ends the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas and put a middle-class tax cut into the pockets of working Americans who deserve it.

I’ll be a president who harnesses the ingenuity of farmers and scientists and entrepreneurs to free this nation from the tyranny of oil once and for all.

And I’ll be a president who ends this war in Iraq and finally brings our troops home who restores our moral standing, who understands that 9/11 is not a way to scare up votes but a challenge that should unite America and the world against the common threats of the 21st century. Common threats of terrorism and nuclear weapons, climate change and poverty, genocide and disease.

Tonight, we are one step closer to that vision of America because of what you did here in Iowa.

And so I’d especially like to thank the organizers and the precinct captains, the volunteers and the staff who made this all possible.

And while I’m at it on thank yous, I think it makes sense for me to thank the love of my life, the rock of the Obama family, the closer on the campaign trail.

I know you didn’t do this for me. You did this because you believed so deeply in the most American of ideas – that in the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.

I know this. I know this because while I may be standing here tonight, I’ll never forget that my journey began on the streets of Chicago doing what so many of you have done for this campaign and all the campaigns here in Iowa, organizing and working and fighting to make people’s lives just a little bit better.

I know how hard it is. It comes with little sleep, little pay and a lot of sacrifice. There are days of disappointment. But sometimes, just sometimes, there are nights like this, a night that, years from now, when we’ve made the changes we believe in, when more families can afford to see a doctor, when our children inherit a planet that’s a little cleaner and safer, when the world sees America differently, and America sees itself as a nation less divided and more united, you’ll be able to look back with pride and say that this was the moment when it all began.

This was the moment when the improbable beat what Washington always said was inevitable.

This was the moment when we tore down barriers that have divided us for too long; when we rallied people of all parties and ages to a common cause; when we finally gave Americans who have never participated in politics a reason to stand up and to do so.

This was the moment when we finally beat back the policies of fear and doubts and cynicism, the politics where we tear each other down instead of lifting this country up. This was the moment.

Years from now, you’ll look back and you’ll say that this was the moment, this was the place where America remembered what it means to hope. For many months, we’ve been teased, even derided for talking about hope. But we always knew that hope is not blind optimism. It’s not ignoring the enormity of the tasks ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path.

It’s not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it and to work for it and to fight for it.

Hope is what I saw in the eyes of the young woman in Cedar Rapids who works the night shift after a full day of college and still can’t afford health care for a sister who’s ill. A young woman who still believes that this country will give her the chance to live out her dreams.

Hope is what I heard in the voice of the New Hampshire woman who told me that she hasn’t been able to breathe since her nephew left for Iraq. Who still goes to bed each night praying for his safe return.

Hope is what led a band of colonists to rise up against an empire. What led the greatest of generations to free a continent and heal a nation. What led young women and young men to sit at lunch counters and brave fire hoses and march through Selma and Montgomery for freedom’s cause.

Hope, hope is what led me here today. With a father from Kenya, a mother from Kansas and a story that could only happen in the United States of America.

Hope is the bedrock of this nation. The belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us, by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is, who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.

That is what we started here in Iowa and that is the message we can now carry to New Hampshire and beyond.

The same message we had when we were up and when we were down; the one that can save this country, brick by brick, block by block, that together, ordinary people can do extraordinary things.

Because we are not a collection of red states and blue states. We are the United States of America. And in this moment, in this election, we are ready to believe again.

Thank you, Iowa.