Obama Has A Dream

[title maintitle=”” subtitle=”The Promise of a State of the Union Like No Other”]Well folks, that was the beginning of the end of an era. Watching President Obama give his last State of The Union (SOTU) feels like watching the last season of your favorite TV show. You keep watching because you want to know what happens, but you’re sad because it’s ending soon.

This wasn’t my first time watching the SOTU, as I love politics. However, it was the first time watching a political event with 60+ African-Americans, at a bar, in the Marina district in San Francisco. For those of you remotely familiar with San Francisco, you already know, that’s what we call a miracle. Maybe we are part of the change for the future Obama spoke of in his SOTU address (though I think this was a one-time fling).

Regardless of tonight’s miracle to have that many Blacks in one spot in San Francisco, I was expecting big things from Obama’s last SOTU.

Buzz on the streets was that tonight’s SOTU was going to be like no other. Obama was planning to go rogue and focus on his dream for America.

I swore this was going to be his “I Have a Dream” moment and he was going to give some profound and inspiring speech. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited to see a SOTU.

I will say Obama’s last SOTU started and ended strong. Obama told us, “The future we want — opportunity and security for our families, a rising standard of living, and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids — all that is within our reach…..but it will only happen if we work together. It will only happen if we can have rational, constructive debates. It will only happen if we fix our politics.”

It all sounded great, but at the end of the speech, I didn’t feel inspired to go change the world. I didn’t feel inspired to march on Washington and sacrifice my life to help save America. In all honesty, Obama’s last SOTU was a let down.

I appreciated his well-timed shade that we’ve grown to love over the past seven years. Obama’s shade throwing skills alone has been a reason to watch the SOTU. Yet for this SOTU, I wanted a Nobel Peace Prize worthy dream from Obama. What we got was a good rally speech that reminded me of his early presidential campaign days when he talked about change.

“That’s the America I know. That’s the country we love. Clear- eyed, big-hearted, undaunted by challenge, optimistic that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word. That’s what makes me so hopeful about our future. I believe in change because I believe in you, the American people.”

I believe Obama has done what he could under the circumstances. I also believe at the end of the day, the best way to judge a president is to see what he does as a citizen after leaving office. That’s when I hope we’ll see the true inspiring man I’m going to miss seeing in front of that podium next year.