The remaking of America

Got a funny call from my mum the other day. She called to ask me if it was ok for my dad to take my letter jacket from high school to the charity shop on Martin Luther King Day. I said no, on the grounds that my childhood memories have already, save the aforementioned jacket, been resigned to just one box in the basement. And that earning that letter jacket is still one of my proudest achievements.

I didn't give much thought to the call. I was thinking about other things. Like the speech. How wonderful it felt to not feel cynicism and hatred for your government. To believe in something again.

There's an interesting take on the speech over at I Noticed This and I won't get into an analysis of Obama's speech. Mostly because it's done better at the NY Times. But also because I thought his call to remake America was a bit glib, and that it would fall on the deaf ears of a populace who had been burned too many times by politicans who said one thing, and then did another. It had obvious links to JFK's 'ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country', and could therefore be considered political posturing.

But I was wrong to think that the Obamas would not be able to mobilise the country. I'd asked my mum why, out of character, my dad was taking old clothes to the charity shop.

'Because he got an email from Michelle Obama asking him to celebrate MLK day by doing something for poor people.'