>>"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." -- Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugral Address
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>Barack Oboma's affinity for Lincoln could not be more clear. He declared his candidacy in Springfield on a cold day in February two years ago, a day much like today. I grabbed my daughters on their way to the refrigerator and got them to watch his speech with me. I said he is going to be our next president. They said I was nuts.
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>It's a heck of a position he has won. Things could not be more screwed up. But I continue to believe in him. He inspires faith, and faith can move mountains.
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>It's also telling that he refers back to Lincoln and not to a black leader like Martin Luther King. He will be remembered as America's first black president, but that doesn't really capture him. As his predecessor said, falsely, he is a uniter, not a divider.
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>Call me a goofy idealist but I think he can lead us out of the darkness.

I'm hopeful, too (not surprisingly). Did you listen to the speeches from Saturday? I watched the one here in Philly. I really liked the images about working to perfect our union. It reminded very much of a Jewish idea that also resonates for me. We have a concept called "tikkun olam," repairing the world. The idea is that things need to be fixed and while you don't have to do the whole job, you do have to work at it. I got that same sense from the speech.

Tamar