OBAMA SHOWS THAT HISTORY MATTERS
Posted on January 18th, 2009“We are here today not to just pay tribute to our first patriots, but to take up the cause that they began.”
Barack Obama, January 17, 2008 [Video features entire speech]
Yesterday, President-elect Barack Obama traced Abraham Lincoln’s historic train ride from Philadelphia to Washington D.C.. Pundits regularly describe Obama’s cabinet choices in terms of a “Team of Rivals,” a concept borrowed for Doris Goodwin’s history of the Lincoln cabinet. Comparisons and linkages between Obama and John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. can be found all over the media and in the blogosphere. Obama’s own rhetoric and his writing is full of historical references as he regularly calls on current generations to emulate the sacrifice, courage and service of past generations. Contrary to what his cynical detractors have said, Obama’s central messages of hope and change are not vacuous slogans. Obama’s messages resonated because they are always framed within the context of American history. It is ability to link the past, present and future that provide their power to inspire. This is a man who knows history, and more importantly, he knows history matters.
Although many Canadians claim they long for an Obama-like political leader, it is doubtful someone like Obama would get much traction in Canada. Canadians just don’t have any sense of Canada’s history and without that understanding, an Obama-like speech would appear vacuous. It is not the “facts” of history that Canadians would have trouble grasping, it is the idea that something that happened in the past could actually mean something positive to people today and for the future. You have to believe history matters to make such a connection and Canadians in general don’t believe history matters. If they did, our political leaders would talk about history. Political leaders don’t talk about history or link themselves to the past because they know large numbers of Canadians believe the past is nothing but the story of injustice. There is nothing inspiring in the past, and as a result there is nothing inspiring right now either.
Most Americans don’t know any more “facts” about American history than most Canadians know about Canadian history. This is a question of attitude not information. Canadians as a whole need to find the kind of positive reasons to tell stories about their past, the way Barack Obama, so, skilfully tells stories about the American past. As historian Jack Granatstien wrote in Who Killed Canadian History? “Yes, in the past some Canadians have been racist or sexist or have abused government powers. Some still are and do. But that is not the whole of the Canadian past, or our present.” While Americans have Lincoln, King and others, there are no shortage of Canadians who were equally inspiring. As long as we deny ourselves inspiration from the past, we will also deny ourselves inspiration in the present.
January 19th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
The Obama wave may spill over into Canada, it just may take some time. Like everything, Canada tends to be behind the curve. I also believe a Canadian will rise to influence and power who will do things differently as well. At some point this country will need a powerful voice of change to bring this fragmented nation together or it will be lost. That person will have to speak of the efforts needed to be Canadian and maintain a great nation, the efforts our ancestors contributed to this nation, in order to battle the politics of self-interest that have forgotten democracy is about compromise.
Now it’s only my opinion. I may be right or wrong, but for change to happen, we must first decide the status quo is no longer sufficient.