‘The Audacity of Hope’ May 23, 2007
Posted by esthermcvey2009 in People, Places.trackback
‘The Audacity of Hope’ - When I heard those 4 words I was moved by the power of the statement and wondered what kind of person was behind them? Were they merely words or was it an expression of something much deeper?
The words belong to Barack Obama and the phrase comes from his 2004 Democratic Convention keynote address.
Since then I have watched Barack’s mesmeric appearances on TV, read the comparisons people have made with Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln and followed his progress on the news.
Barack hailed to be the first black president of the United States is a man to watch and take note of, but is he really as good as people say or are his words something we’ve all heard before with no real depth to them?
Obama’s life is a political fairy tale, a child who had a difficult childhood, went off the rails, then found himself on the road to the most powerful job in the world. From Harvard and Columbia University he went on to become the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review then Senator of Illinois. He’s untried and virtually unknown and yet there’s a momentum to his progress which could see him in the Whitehouse in 2008.
So when I got a message last week on my answer machine from a best friend of 20 years inviting me for lunch, ‘a very important lunch, me a couple of guys, you really have to be there Esther ’ I decided to get to the lunch!
Billy and a couple of guys – turned out to be – chairman of NBC, the publisher of People Magazine, various senior CEO’s of business, Kelly Rowlands of Destiny’s child who provided us with some beautiful acoustic songs before lunch, myself and Barack Obama!
I flew out at the weekend to meet this political phenomena. What was I expecting? I didn’t really know. I went with an open mind.
I decided to watch and listen. His manner steady, his voice deep and measured, he exuded a calm warmth – if he’d been a musician he’d have been a laid back jazz singer – not pop, not punk, but steady and worldly, not singing the blues but he knew what the blues were and wanted a way out of there. He was tall and slim, athletic, long distance runner physique – no doubt a discipline he’d need in the presidential marathon to come.
Although only 45, he looked older than his years, perhaps the journey was taking its toll. He had good eye contact and a discerning gaze. He listened before he spoke and had the foundations of powerful statements to call upon. Not over practiced but like a preacher he had key beliefs he could turn to, a moral core of truth. He words were simple and hit the mark.
It was his honesty and straight forwardness that kept his audience’s attention – he was as they say ‘in the moment’ his answers for you right then and right there, not prepackaged, and yet they were based on long held beliefs, which gave his words depth but his answers a newness.
I’ve read ‘his words aren’t unique we’ve heard them before’ perhaps so, but he transmitted not only a belief in what he said, but a deep understanding of what he was saying – it is the second part that kept my attention. And it was a couple of key things he said when he spoke to me that really resonated.
He talked about how America needs to ‘re find itself’, for ‘the citizens to find empathy for others’ and ‘to be reconnected with one another’, at present he felt he ‘lived in a society that was isolated and had a general disregard for the vulnerable’. America had ‘become callous and cynical the 2 clearest examples of that was Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq war. People were isolated lead by a government that was incompetence and lacked judgment.’
I could write much more about what he said, about ‘the moral core of a nation’, about there being ‘no simple answers’ and about ‘the future of America and the rest of the world’.
Safe to say I felt this man had something unique and important to offer to the world and I do hope he gets the chance to deliver it.
Like him or not-Barack Obama is the most interesting new political figure to come on the scene since-maybe JFK. The establishment will fight his nomination in every way possible (remember-if Hillary is elected and serves 8 years, the White House will have been occupied by a Bush or a Clinton for 28 straight years!)
It’s time for a fresh face, new ideas and some real direction.
Obama 08.
I just threw up ….
If this ungrammatical and poorly spelt piece of psychobabble and politico-jargonspeak is at all representative of the modern Conservative party and its ‘A’ List of preferred candidates, then may the Gods look kindly upon us in our misfortune.
It is as if the Tory Party had been suddenly taken over by a load of CofE HappyClappy Vicars. Well, I’m off to pastures new along with many others who care not for Vote Blue Go Pink. We ought just be able to deprive “Dave” of a majority and we can set about the business of getting a new party of the Right-Centre to represent libertarian, free market, anti-EU, meritocrats with sympathy for the aspirations of the less well off to improve their lot.
Imagine gooing like a lovesick teenager over this obviously leftish man who is the antithesis of almost anything you care to name in the conservative book of core beliefs. Yuk!
I hope you were wearing Depends when you wet yourself over this guy. Good Lord! If his wife Michelle saw you around her man, she’d ‘cut you’.
I had not heard of you before Miss McVey, (but then I had not heard of Gilllian Merron until some recent codge up, and she is a minister) but got here from the link from Iain Dale. I does strike me though that ‘The Audacity of Hope’ is the sort of political piffle that Tony Blair might well have uttered in 1997. The dishonesty of his rhetoric has now been well exposed and I would urge you to treat with care similar tosh from aross the Atlantic.
Well, girl, you’ve certainly got your share of curmudgeonly posters. They are obviously supporters of GB, closet or otherwise.
You’ve done well to get yourself that close to a potential president. Keep the contact warm.
Knocking a man who speaks inspiringly, and with conviction, is easy. Its as though they haven’t noticed that our nearest equivalent, TB, has won 3 GE by a distance.
I think you’ll find most of the criticism is levelled at the author not the man! Tw*t!
Dear Glyn Holford,
How can we tell if rhetoric is dishonest until the rhetoric is either broken or not lived up to? This is the case with Tony Blair but surely we can’t condemn every other potential leader because we have been let down by our own?
I am cautious, but went to visit Barack with an open mind and I met him through friends I have known for 20 years - all very successful business people and family people - I judged him on his actions to date and his vision for the future.
Every county has/needs a leader and we all need to find the best possible leader I was fortunate enough to be invited to meet one of the candidates and my blog gives you (a brief) accoun of my thoughts
Best wishes and thanks for finding your way from Iain’s site to mine, Esther McVey
Dear M. Fernandez
I fear you misinterpret the photo - It was a family occasion with family and friends, long time friends of mine - 20 years - It was a social gathering - children and wives - I hope that puts your mind at ease.
Best wishes and thank you for taking the time to visit my blog site
Esther McVey
Esther, my advice, for what it’s worth, is to undergo a crash course in the English Language. Your grammar and punctuation is sub-GCSE level. Perhaps you think this doesn’t matter.
Your breathless admiration for Obama is all very well, but apart from some gibberish about America re-finding itself, you don’t report what he said and we have no idea why he would be a good POTUS, or why you think so.
People of Wirral West take note!
Esther Mcvey goes off to New York to meet one of the most influential people in US Politics. What are the odds she paid for the trip herself? Bloody high I would say.
Last time your member of the Westminster Parliament, Stephen Hesford, was in the news it was because he had gone to Germany to watch the World Cup 2006 between June 8 and 11 where he received match ticket, hospitality transport from McDonald’s.
Thank goodness Ms McVey has the common sense to actually go out there and network with such a man as Senator Obama.
Having carried out work in Illinois over the last ten years I came across Barack when he was serving as a State Senator. Wherever I was in the state, in Evanston , Chicago or Springfield people on both sides of the political divide rated him highly.
It was no surprise when he was elected to the US Senate in 2004 with over 70% of the vote! People that was 70%!!!!
2005 saw him be name by The New Statesman as one of the 10 most influential people in world politics.
Question to Mr Hesford next time you see him – Why did you choose to go to see Ronald McDonald (apart from the fact he paid) and not Barack?
He’s a big government liberal and you are running for the Conservative Party. Are you in the right Party?
A more measured response may be appropriate; I agree his life has been a “political fairytale”, but surely it is what he *will* do that matters much more than what he has done? It would be a tragedy for America if, at this point when a more unifying new political direction is needed, the nation was so enchanted by Sen Obama’s audacity that it not only bought into an exciting personality but also the wrong policies and the wrong direction which make it an even more disjointed place.
Gosh, however you look at it, this posting has certainly got people agitated and/ or interested and joining in with a political debate.
Thank you all for your postings - even those not so well disposed towards me.
Yes Neil Acrod, you are right, I did pay for the trip myself.
Yes George Reynolds I am in the right party, I’m a Conservative through and through - But George why would that mean I wouln’t take the time to meet and converse with people who hold different views to me? I do all the time.
Sometimes you can learn more about your own views and stretch your own knowledge and understanding by meeting with people who hold different views. To hear your own views echoed back to you surely only serves to magnify them not analyse them. I on the other hand George always try to analyse and reflect, refine and hone. I hope that answers the point raised.
What I find funny is the way that all of a sudden all these comments are being posted within such a short period of time.
When I first saw the blog last week I was thrilled that somebody I knew of had got the intuition to go am meet the man.
I would put a pound to a penny the reception received was better than the Bush / Brown meeting!
Esther, having attended the Adelphi charity night for the last two years may I suggest that you lobby for the Senator to attend the “Anthony Walker” Awards next year?
Steve Britain : - can I recommend “The Audacity of Hope” to you as a thoroughly good read. One quote from the 2004 Convention speech springs to mind “In the end, that’s what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope?”
As for me, I dare to hope.
I guess we know what your choice was Steve!
John Meyer. Not sure it’s funny, you can probably just thank Iain Dale for the publicity! Yes I am a cynic! You only have to have watched the news every day for the last 20 years to understand why.
Thanks for your reply Esther. But you seemed to be saying more than you thought he had some interesting ideas that you disagreed with. You seemed to, in your last sentence, to be endorsing this man and wishing him to be the next President of the US.
Dear Esther
Thank you for the courtesy of an individual reply and its courteous nature.
I accept the honesty of your approach to Mr Obama and will watch the American election process with interest. Maybe anybody might be better than Mrs Clinton!
I have no connection to the Wirral. I live in Beer in East Devon and am looking out over a sparkling English Channel as I write.
Good luck with your challenge to Labour, and thank you again for your reply.
Kind regards
Glyn Holford
But surely policy is quite important?
Esther, what a thrilling adventure. I wish I had lunchtime invites like that.
Btw, blogging is not about writing literary articles with no punctuation errors, it’s about showing the “human face” of blogging. And fortunately, some Conservatives are also able to appreciate politicians from other political parties - we need to grow up on this issue.
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I tend to side with the posters who view your analysis as a touch premature. Essentially that it is too early to tell if Obama is a serious politician of conviction or a vacuous populist. As we’ve only got a brief political career to draw on we can only guess. The truth will appear as the campaign develops and we see genuine policy being presented, mind you on you can go a long way in a presidential election before you have to do that. Nevertheless you have a point that we should retain our optimism and be prepared to open our minds. Reflex cynicism is both corrosive and self defeating. It is endemic in this country and the blame for this goes beyond the spin doctors. Cynical attitudes are easy to present as ‘knowing’ while optimistic ones can all to easily be characterised as ‘naïve’.
I was mostly driven to post a comment because I admired the fact that you responded directly to many of your posters. Not only that but you were polite and respected the poster even though some, such as the less than gracious number 4, didn’t afford you the same courtesy.
Ruairidh;
1 Point of Information!
Whilst on this side of the pond Barack is a relatively new “personality” if you follow up on Neil’s entry above at number 11 above you will see that he served on the Illinois State Senate from 1997 to 2004 before winning his seat as a US Senator. So that is 7 years State legislature and 3 in US Senate.
If; and this is the big if; if Barack were to be the Democrats nomination for November 2008 he would have been an elected representative for the people of Illinois for 11 years.
Lady Thatcher went from entering Westminster in 1959 to leading the Party in 1974. 15 years.
Major was in the 1979 intake and took over in 1990. 11 years.
Blair entered Westminster in 1983 and was leader of Labour in 94. 11 years.
David Cameron; elected 2001 leader December 2005. Fours years!
2 Cynicism is easy when it is some other person trying to do it! A lot of people (mistakenly I hope) think they are being a realist when they post a reply to someone else’s comments when in fact they are just spewing out their own bile and recreating their own dogmatic views on the way the world should be if they were in a position to change things.
3 Your admiration of the bloger is justified. Esther is one of the best candidates I have met in a long, long time of trudging the streets as a Tory activist. She will be an asset to her electorate, the Party and with links like she has demonstrated above I have no doubt she will be an asset to the country once she is returned to Westminster.
She may be an asset, but she has no idea about basic grammar. If you want to be an MP, who pontificates about the failures of the state education system, you should understand some basic grammar.
As for BO, yes, he’s an interesting character. I’m on at 50-1 for presidncy, so I hopehe goes all the way.
Hi there Cheltboy,
How funny are you!
Presidency is spelt with an ‘e’ after the ‘d’…….
That’s kind of a ‘pot’ and ‘kettle’ situation …… or does it just go to show when people are quickly writing a blog or a comment on a blog they’re not as accurate as they would otherwise be….. you tell me…..
At the end of the day, he’s a Democrat- as much an enemy as Hesford or whoever the Lib Dems throw up- probably that dreadful Quinn woman
In the interests of fairness, suggest next time, can a meeting with Rudi Guliani or Condi be arranged?- bith are much more substantial and I suspect much more interesting
There are some who think it is very important for your spelling and grammar to be ‘on the pace’. They are also irritated by ‘typos’. If you write a piece on education, they’ll delight in pointing out any short-comings in your written work. They will titter in a rather superior way in their comments.
A tedious suggestion. Don’t give these pedants the space. Have someone check what you write.
John Meyer
Counting time spent in the Illinois senate is not really the same as time served as an MP. It’s only state legislature after all. Perhaps it is a bit grander (12m people) than council politics in this country but it is regional all the same and regional politics in the US have a very different dynamic. So in that sense I think your Thatcher et al analogies are a bit spurious. Never mind the fact that you stop counting the years when they became party leader and not when they became Prime Minister, except of course in the case of Major. Using Cameron as another analogy was a bit of an own goal though. Your chronology should have had Brown in first of course but my point was that with such a short national political career behind him (30 months) you don’t have a track record to compare with his rhetoric. Consequently you are left unsure on his principals and unable to determine which policy positions are opportunist and which are deeply held. Cameron hardly sets the mind to rest on that one.
Ruairidh
Hi Esther,
A case of quick writing I am afraid.
Despite my comments, I have to say what you wrote was interesting and confirms a lot of what I have read about BO.
Good luck with trying to get a winnable seat. The Tory ranks need some interesting characters.
Barack belongs to the wrong political party for you Tester!
“Good luck with trying to get a winnable seat”. Lol.
Prague.. She has a winnable seat alrady Its called “Wirral West”!
[...] The full sory can be found at Esther Mcvey’s bog here. [...]
Hi Esther,
Keep up the good work. As with most politicians, Obama makes some interesting and controversial points. Be sure to hang on to his coat-tails as he is making the political world very exciting. Perhaps that is no bad thing as when voters engage more with politicians real change can happen.