Yes he did it

A grande notícia da semana é sem dúvida a vitória de Barack Hussein Obama II na corrida à Casa Branca após uma aguerrida e mediática campanha que transcendeu as fronteiras dos EUA e alastrou a todo o Mundo. Por momentos, cheguei mesmo a ter a sensação de que se tratava de uma corrida à Presidência da República Portuguesa, tal era o volume de notícias e de comentários que ouvia um pouco por todo o lado. Já soube entretanto que Cavaco Silva enviou uma mensagem de felicitações a Obama e pergunto-me se até Sócrates não o terá feito também... anexando astutamente uma brochura promocional do Magalhães.

O vencedor foi "vendido" à opinião pública como uma espécie de cruzamento entre Martin Luther King e John Fitzgerald Kenedy e será talvez por isso que ouvi, não poucas vezes, algumas delas com a mesma convicção que alguém diria "A culpa é do Sócrates!", que Barack Obama será assassinado antes de completar o mandato. Creio até que o primeiro sinal disso terá sido a tentativa frustrada perpetrada por dois neonazis que, dando um claro indício do nível de QI desta gente, anunciou ao Mundo o que ia tentar fazer antes de tentar.

Uma coisa é certa: esta vitória carrega um tremendo simbolismo pelo seu timming e pelo contexto social e histórico em que ocorre, afinal, Obama é filho de um emigrante queniano num país onde, ainda há pouco mais de 40 anos, Luther King foi abatido a tiro e os afro-americanos eram ainda alvo de segregação racial. Sem dúvida impressionante!

Aqui fica o discurso de vitória de Obama, discurso que fica marcado por uma empolgante conclusão, a partir dos 13'30'' aproximadamente, e cuja transcrição faço abaixo.




This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that’s on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She’s a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing – Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn’t vote for two reasons – because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she’s seen throughout her century in America – the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can’t, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women’s voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.


She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that “We Shall Overcome.” Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves – if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time – to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth – that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can’t, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes we can!

Quem quiser ler o discurso completo poderá fazê-lo no blog Firedoglake

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