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March 24, 2008
The intro to 'The Speech'
Posted by: Chris
With all the well-deserved attention paid to "The Speech" by Barack Obama on race and politics last week in Philadelphia, most of us missed the introduction he received from Harris Wofford, the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania. I am very proud to call Harris a friend, even though he turned 80 exactly one year and one day after I turned 40.
I can only marvel at the amazing life he has led, from advising Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy on civil rights issues, to helping launch the Peace Corps. It is to Pennsylvania's credit that Harris was re-elected to the Senate in 1991 over Dick Thornburgh, the heavily favored former governor and U.S. attorney general. It's to the state's eternal shame that Wofford subsequently lost his seat in a razor-thin election to Rick Santorum, the arch-conservative, anti-gay Republican.
Harris' lifelong commitment to bridging the gap between the races made him the ideal choice to introduce Senator Obama in Philadelphia last week. His high praise reinforces the notion many have that this presidential campaign has truly unique potential:
Originals of this kind don’t come along often – maybe once every few generations. They come when they are most needed. When I heard Barack Obama speak at the Democratic Convention in 2004, I saw him as such an original. Since then I’ve read his two books and listened to his words that are reaching the soul of America. And in this campaign we’ve seen him putting those words into action.
We’ve waited a long time to meet a leader whom the country needs as badly as we needed John Kennedy in 1960 and Robert Kennedy in 1968. And today, I’m more convinced than ever that Barack Obama is that leader.
He closed his introduction with a story about King and Kennedy that merits retelling:
I’ll never forget one moment in the early weeks of President Kennedy’s thousand days. The President had to tell Dr. King that he was committed to the full civil rights agenda, but that he would have to delay proposing the far-reaching legislation that had been pledged in the 1960 Democratic Platform. He had decided that to go forward with legislation at that time would have been self-defeating -- triggering a Southern filibuster, exposing the weakness of the Democratic Party, and revealing the inability of the new President, with a razor thin majority, to control the Congress.
It was a difficult discussion. But it was Kennedy and King at their best; both calm and determined to reason together to find their way forward. Martin was disappointed. But he accepted the decision, and said he wasn’t going to attack the President for it.
On his way out of the White House, Martin turned to me and said, “I had hoped when I came here today that this would at last be a President who had the intelligence to understand this problem, the political skill to solve it, and the moral passion to see it through. I’m convinced now that he’s got the intelligence and the skill. We’ll have to see if he has the passion.”
Kennedy eventually proved that he had the passion, as did Robert Kennedy in his turn. Now, as we aim to complete the work that we began all those years ago, I’m convinced that if Martin Luther King were alive today, he’d say Barack has all three.
The introduction in its entirety is available in the jump to this post.
JUMP TO THIS POST:
Harris Wofford: Introduction of Barack Obama
National Constitution Center, Philadelphia
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
I feel lucky beyond measure to be here today to introduce Senator Obama.
As you welcome Barack Obama, are you also feeling “the Public Happiness” of participating in our self-government—the happiness that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson said they intended to encompass when they declared the people’s right to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”?
From the perspective of four-score-and-one years, I’ve been thinking a lot about what it is that distinguishes our finest presidents. I think it’s the quality of truly being an original – a person whose gifts and capacity for leadership match the needs of the time.
The first original was our first President, George Washington. His commitment to the common good earned the deep respect of the founders and set this nation on its historic course.
The greatest was Abraham Lincoln, the most peaceful of our presidents, who led us through a great war to save the union, and whose powerful reasoning and steady hand brought an end to the scourge of slavery.
Originals of this kind don’t come along often – maybe once every few generations. They come when they are most needed. When I heard Barack Obama speak at the Democratic Convention in 2004, I saw him as such an original. Since then I’ve read his two books and listened to his words that are reaching the soul of America. And in this campaign we’ve seen him putting those words into action.
We’ve waited a long time to meet a leader whom the country needs as badly as we needed John Kennedy in 1960 and Robert Kennedy in 1968. And today, I’m more convinced than ever that Barack Obama is that leader.
From spending part of his childhood in Indonesia and having family in Africa, Barack understands that most of the world doesn’t look like we do, and they don’t have the kind of resources we have. He understands that to solve our problems around the world, America will have to show not just leadership, but humility. And from his experience as a community organizer, state Senator, and United States Senator, he knows that to meet our challenges in this country, we have to go beyond politics as usual, and engage in a deep and serious and civil search for common ground.
So it is altogether fitting and proper to be here in the National Constitution Center today. Because the most successful search for common ground in our nation’s history was the one that produced our Constitution – a document Barack used to teach in law school and one that he has a profound love for.
It’s a love I share. I’ve spent much of my life trying to help fulfill the promise of the Constitution. Decades ago, I was fortunate to serve in the White House with President Kennedy, to campaign with Robert Kennedy, and to work – and walk – with Martin Luther King.
I’ll never forget one moment in the early weeks of President Kennedy’s thousand days. The President had to tell Dr. King that he was committed to the full civil rights agenda, but that he would have to delay proposing the far-reaching legislation that had been pledged in the 1960 Democratic Platform. He had decided that to go forward with legislation at that time would have been self-defeating -- triggering a Southern filibuster, exposing the weakness of the Democratic Party, and revealing the inability of the new President, with a razor thin majority, to control the Congress.
It was a difficult discussion. But it was Kennedy and King at their best; both calm and determined to reason together to find their way forward. Martin was disappointed. But he accepted the decision, and said he wasn’t going to attack the President for it.
On his way out of the White House, Martin turned to me and said, “I had hoped when I came here today that this would at last be a President who had the intelligence to understand this problem, the political skill to solve it, and the moral passion to see it through. I’m convinced now that he’s got the intelligence and the skill. We’ll have to see if he has the passion.”
Kennedy eventually proved that he had the passion, as did Robert Kennedy in his turn. Now, as we aim to complete the work that we began all those years ago, I’m convinced that if Martin Luther King were alive today, he’d say Barack has all three.
Ladies and gentlemen -- Senator Barack Obama.
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