Friday, March 21, 2008

Barack Obama

Senator Barack Obama's address in Philadelphia the other day prompts many thoughts. Among other things, it was a superb commentary on American constitutional history, a subject that I teach. His address is right up there with the historic debates between Lincoln and Stevens, and with Senator Charles Sumner's "Are We as Nation?" Deftly, Obama placed the principles of the Declaration of Independence, and therefore the principle of equality, at the "core" of the Constitution. That was Lincoln's argument. Although equality is not mentioned in the original constitution, and did not appear there until after the Civil War, when slavery was at last abolished - Senator Obama says that the ideal of a future equality is in the preamble: "We, the People of these United States, in order to form a more perfect Union. . ." He beautifully recognizes that equality and union are ideals to be reached, if at all, in the indefinite future (correcting his own earlier speeches in which he said, too idealistically, that we are, are now, one people). He evidently feels with his whole being that this campaign is a historic moment, like that of the Lincoln-Douglas debates 150 years ago, and that his duty is to articulate and embody (literally, its seems)a new national self-awareness, a sense that despite our profound diversity and our conflicts, we of these United States are still on a path toward the great ideals of solidarity and civilization. Sign me up, Senator.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

With his emphasis on unity, Obama shows himself to be a true Whig. Unlike previous Whigs, however, Obama has the personal history and background to bridge the divides that have polarized the nation. The time is finally right, and the time and the man have met.

You might enjoy my whiggish blog at cwhig.blogspot.com.

Anonymous said...

Not sure if you still check your blog, but I own your book on Holmes and his Collected Works.

Are you still planning on adding more volumes to the collected works?

I love Holmes, and have most of his correspondence that has been published.

Sheldon Novick said...

Thank you, Scott--I do plan to add two volumes of Holmes's Massachusetts opinions to the Collected Works, when time and money are available. I also think of resuming the Weekly Whig, now that we have a Whig president. . .