Our new president remains our greatest orator. In his acceptance speech tonight, Barack Obama was thankful, hopeful, poetic — and something else. He spoke not from a position of superiority and smugness, but with humility, patriotism, and pride, plus a message for more than domestic consumption:
To all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world. Our stories are singular but our destiny is shared. The new dawn of American leadership is at hand.
To those who would tear the world down, we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security, we support you. And to all those who wondered if America’s beacon still burns as bright, tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.
The man can speak, and his words are inspirational. Now comes the hard part — leadership.