Moving the Country Forward

The whole journey has been a joy to behold. The huge throngs of people, Sunday and today, eager to be part of this new moment in history; the thousands of volunteers yesterday; the vistas of civil rights veterans, hip-hop youth, Pete Seeger, Tuskegee Airmen, Abe Lincoln's bible, and more, all filled the last few days with an awesome sense of history. It feels very much like a very new beginning.

And then today, in 18 minutes of carefully chosen words and ideas, President Barack Obama signaled a very new direction for America. With strong evocations of our country's history, and nestling his pledge for change in the universal cape of our oft-interrupted journey toward justice, President Obama made a sharp break with the past eight years of domestic and foreign policy, and signaled fundamentally new directions. All of us at the African American Planning Commission applaud heartily and are eager to be part of helping him move the country forward.

He was very clear that our economy needs to be restructured, ending years of market fundamentalism, deregulation, and the disregard for whether our economy generates broadly shared prosperity or reaches only a privileged few. He spoke with energy about the new role for government, setting as his benchmark its effective engagement with people struggling to improve their circumstances. He articulated a very different way of engaging the world, ready to join with others in a far more respectfully engaged and interdependent way. He pledged a return to constitutional principles and the application of our ideals even in the war on terror. And he called on all of us to serve, to care, to think about each other and the future of our planet -- to engage energetically in the practice of democracy.

President Obama has long since proved that Just Words are more than 'just words'. But we also know that only with the common efforts of government, citizens, unions and thoughtful business leaders, grass roots organizations like the African American Planning Commission, and policy centers, can the combined energy for the new overcome the inertia and resistance of the old.

We look forward to being part of that work. For today, we applaud the graceful yet clear way the new direction has been set. Congratulations, President Obama.