Yes We Can - I Believe It
I’m not a political blogger, but when I saw this video, I thought I would try something new. Take a look…
Well, I thought three things.
One is that this is an emotional appeal about general ideas like peace, love and understanding and wasn’t that already an Elvis Costello song? Presidential politics should be about ideas and policies that work, not cool looking music videos featuring good looking celebrities.
Two is that this is an emotional appeal about general ideas like peace, love and understanding and it really got me, deep in my heart, below where logic lives, in the place where fires start. The feeling isn’t just about being entertained, it is real and important and powerful and along with the ideas and policies, our country needs something like THIS.
Three is that, if Barak Obama is for you or not, the message is for everyone. Get involved. Believe you make a difference. Vote.
Barak Obama’s original Yes We Can speech
Words to Barak Obama’s Yes We Can speech
ABC talks about Yes We Can video




For the last 7 years, I have lived with my head in the sand, hoping against hope that our current President would have the sense to shut his trap and not make yet another verbal misstep. Every time I listen to him, his obvious discomfort in speaking publicly literally causes me physical pain. It makes me unable, on a psychological level, to believe anything he says. I feel like putting a sign in my front yard that reads, “Anyone Else for President.”
I want someone in the White House who I can believe in. Sadly, at this point, it almost matters more that I perceive that I believe them than that they actually mean what they say.
I think sometimes that we do not give enough credence to the power and importance of oration. It is imperative that our leaders be capable of not only bringing creative solutions to the table but also of being able to rally us behind them to work towards those goals. Ultimately, what great leaders like FDR and Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. were able to do was to make us believe in ourselves.
So, yes, on the campaign trail right now, there is a lot of rhetoric and a lot of posturing, and not so many concrete ideas, but what I see in Obama is natural grace and poise and charisma. These are so authentic in appearance that it makes me want to believe him–desperately, and there is tremendous power in that. Coupled with creative ideas, I do believe that this power can bring great change.