Yes, We Can — Or Can We?
On November 4, 2008, after winning that year’s U.S. presidential election, Barack Obama gave a victory speech before a crowd of 240,000 in his hometown of Chicago. Using Abraham Lincoln as both an inspiration for his speech and a guide for his ideology, the president-elect told his listeners, “As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, ‘We are not enemies but friends.”
2008 was a dark time for America. Two wars were in progress and the country was experiencing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. As a result, morale was at a serious low, but Obama believed unity was still possible.
He reminded the crowd that his campaign was built and sustained by working people like themselves, not the politicians who worked in the halls of Washington, proving that “a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth.” His speech had a clear message: together we can accomplish great and positive things.
When I recently re-watched his speech on YouTube, it gave me goosebumps. Despite the wars and the financial calamity…
