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How Barack Obama won the nomination of the Democratic Party

Reza Hossein Borr - 6/9/2008

Martin Luther King did not accept the decisions that were made for him by others. The history had decided his place in the society but he was not satisfied with that place and therefore, he changed the course of history by changing first himself and his own beliefs. These are the beliefs that make history and a person represents his beliefs when he presents them to a state of affair which is in complete contrast with it. People have never been given a wish without being given the intelligence and resolve for achieving it. For generations people thought: black and white that the state of master-slave is a permanent state and nobody can change it. But it all started with one person who thought that he can build his own life the way he wants; although it was against the dominant forms of living. Martin Luther King defied the status quo and defined the life he deserved and changed history.

Those who thought that the powerless cannot change things were shocked. There is a huge strength in the powerless; provided he approaches different things from the position of strength. What changes the history is not what was right or what is right, it is the sheer determination of people who believe in doing what the others think cannot be done. When somebody says this can't be done, he thinks of his own inability and generalizes his inability to others and that is the catastrophe when people accept the inabilities of others as their own inabilities. Martin Luther King’s father accepted the inabilities of others as his own and therefore he became unable to change anything. Martin Luther King searched deep into himself and discovered that he has the ability to change the history, the established value system, the dominant political culture and established social classes.

He changed all of them. He opened the way for new possibilities for new people to do what seemed impossible. What is impossible for one may be very possible for another one, if one knows how to do it. Colin Powell followed Martin Luther King's attitude. He did not accept what others decided he could not do but decided that he was the person who would decide what he could do. He did not accept the thoughts of others about himself. He decided to determine his place in history and society. He decided what other people must think of him. There were man-made limitations which were widespread everywhere on the black people and black people had naively accepted them as if they were true. He stood firm and tall and decided to build his own life and his own future the way he thought he deserved. He became the first chairman of joint staff of the US army. He became the first black Secretary of State of America. A lot of people thought that he was the right person for becoming the President of the United States. There were others who thought he was more important than becoming the president. He challenged all the odds. He achieved what no black man had achieved before and he proved that the American people recognize the merits, the character and the abilities of the people regardless of their skin colour or religion. He made American people realize what counts were the capabilities.

Condaleeza Rice was mentored and trained by Colin Powell. She was a woman and black. Both of them were liabilities in the eyes of many. Not in her eyes. She pursued the political culture Colin Powell had generated and offered her merits. She became the first black woman Secretary State of the United States of America. She excelled because of her skills, knowledge and wisdom. She opened her way in untraveled mountains which were insurmountable before. She continued to march on the course of action that Martin Luther King and Colin Powell had travelled before. Somehow she improved the way and gave hope to those who have been trapped in a culture that they have not shaped and formed. She excelled where everybody expected her to fail. She climbed over a difficult ladder where everybody believed she would fall. Her mindset, skills and determination consolidated the changes that the men before her had accomplished.



It was the accomplishments of these men and woman that paved and opened the way for Barack Obama, the presumptive candidate of Democratic Party. Martin Luther King planted the seeds. Colin Powell and Rice continued to nurture the trees and Barack Obama is not only reaping the rewards but establishing the trend of meritocracy for future generations. The history can always be extended in future or made a platform for reorganization and change. There are those black people who use the slavery of the black people in the past to enslave themselves today by extending the attitude of slavery in themselves. There are those black people who read the past and perceive it as a source of inspiration to achieve what the previous generations could not achieve. It is all about the ability to achieve and Barack Obama has plenty of that.

Barack Obama had belief and confidence in himself and in the people of America and America as the land where the opportunities are given to all regardless of their origin, colour or religion. He had faith in his skills and his knowledge of inspiring people to empower themselves to determine their lives. He generated hope for those who had lost hope. He generated more confidence in those who had been frustrated with the present circumstances. He evoked the spirit of togetherness and the ability which lies inside collective affections. He created affectionate feelings which made people feel good and trust themselves.

He talked about a vision in which aspirations are not only for dreaming but for realization. His vision unleashed the hidden potentials to rise beyond accepted limitations; limitations that were made by some people and turned into unobjectionable realities. Today, millions of Americans have been mobilized to change the perceptions of disappointment and discrimination to a new established fact that the possibilities and impossibilities exist only in our minds. For those who think high achieving is impossible, it becomes impossible. And for those who believe that what a person can dream of can be also realised, the world becomes a world of immense possibilities.