Obama to Europe: Yo, I'm black!

Barack Obama, speaking to over 200,000 people in Berlin:

I know that I don't look like the Americans who've previously spoken in this great city.

The crowd laughed; Obama grinned. He can do these set-up jokes because his oratorial skills are not just delivering great messages but making connections. His self-deprecating half-grin, however scripted and practiced, works. And it makes the point well before he continues with his story of an African father and Kansan mother: I'm not another American white man coming to make promises my country won't honor.

Obama's difference is more than his ethnic heritage, however greatly it informs his world view and politics. Obama, more than any other modern political leader, understands not merely that things must change; he knows how they must change. Even more, he knows how to bring about that change, and that's why he chose to speak in Berlin before hundreds of thousands of people. That's why his speech began with his very personal and increasingly un-unique story.

Obama sees that change will be a mass movement of individuals who unite of their own accord. When he speaks of his parents and grandparents, it's to remind people of their family, of those who came before them. Whatever their background, each person has a heritage that matters. Obama's stands out only because he's about to become President of the United States; otherwise, he is a pretty average American. He is what the average American is becoming.

The powerful speeches before great crowds are far more than magnificent theatre: the power of these events is a visceral expression of what is possible. As part of such a crowd, as I was when he spoke before 72,000 here in Portland, or even just watching on tv or the internet, the emotion that he generates with his words, his presence, the possibility of his presidency, the excitement of the crowd — all this sparks something inside that can only be reached with fiery emotion. It's the faith that gives life to the hope upon which depends his entire campaign, the movement behind his campaign, and, for those who support him, the future of the world.

This is not a grand political stunt. The huge Obama events are manifestations of what is possible if we believe in our own capabilities, and especially in what is possible as we join with hundreds of thousands, with millions of other citizens, whether in America or elsewhere.