January 15, 2009

editorial

Hail to a very different chief

When Barack Obama becomes the 44th president of the United States next week, he brings to the job a list of firsts that go far beyond his being the first African-American president. He’s also the first president with a Muslim grandfather, the first with an extended family in Kenya and the first one raised in Indonesia.

And while Obama’s other firsts are undoubtedly significant, there’s another Obama distinction: he’ll be the first president who once worked as a community organizer among poor Americans.

I’ve been thinking about this aspect of Obama’s life since reading his memoir, Dreams from My Father. It’s a wonderful book. While every aspect of Obama’s early life is interesting, I found most riveting the section when, after college, he headed to Chicago to follow his vague but powerful longing to work as a community organizer.

In the early 1980s, during the Reagan years, this was not the trendy thing to do. A recent graduate of Columbia University, Obama knew no one who followed a similar path. And he had every reason not to follow this path, as finding community organizing work turned out to be far more difficult than landing a well-paying job as a consultant to corporate America. He tried the corporate work for a year, but left to follow his longing for something more meaningful.

That longing took him to Roseland, a south Chicago neighborhood whose citizens were deeply locked in poverty, fear and desperation. The story of Obama’s three years in Roseland is the story of his learning many new things, from discovering the optimal number of chairs to set out at neighborhood meetings, to discovering the power of even the poorest citizens when they work together toward common goals. It’s also the story of Obama opening his heart, finding hope and inspiration in the lives of these common people.

I can only imagine what those Roseland neighbors are thinking now, 20 years later, with their sometimes bumbling but always beloved Barack about to become the president of the United States. When Obama raises his hand on the Bible next Tuesday, he’ll raise up their lives just a little. And perhaps — bringing to the job his astonishing mix of multicultural influences, compassion and faith that people can better their lives by joining together — he’ll raise up the rest of us, too.

—Diane Chiddister