08.01.08
The Code Definitional
It occurred to me a while ago that Obama’s motto of “Yes We Can” (appropriated and translated from Cesar Chavez’s “Si Se Puede”) is actually something of a restatement of the term affirmative action. The affirmative declaration yes and the potential for action inherent in can (plus the ever-present royal we that Obama so often employs) now makes perfect sense when taken altogether. He is saying to his followers, in effect:
“Affirm by your actions this moment in history. This is the moment we have all been waiting for. The world has been waiting for me —and I am become a symbol of America returning to its best traditions, which is the promise of America not as an actual country with a historical culture of its own, but as an idea that transcends nationhood and makes us all citizens of the world.”
Obama being the First Citizen, naturally.
