Last week at a DNC/Gen44 event, hundreds of Democratic supporters, many of them Gen44 members, gathered in Boston’s “State Room” to celebrate the historic changes inspired and brought about by President Obama. I was honored to be one of the Gen44 Boston hosts, along with Noah Shaw, Gen44 Founding Co-Chair; Meena Harris, Founding Co-Chair; and the other Gen44 Boston hosts, Aaron Bates, Saloni Bowry, Joe Hanley, Monica Hinojos, Yalonda Howze, Maria Manning, Kevin McCarthy, Morgan Nickerson, Feargal O’Toole and Justin Saif.
In front of an enthusiastic audience, Representative Edward Markey, Representative Michael E. Capuano, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, Victoria Kennedy and Governor Deval Patrick led off, and then President Barack Obama brought it home. Each gave moving speeches about the accomplishments of the current administration, testifying that hope and faith in action can bring substantive change to America.
Representative Markey reminded the crowd that President Obama took office in the middle of a global financial crisis, and that President Obama has addressed that crisis in a manner designed to help working-class and middle-class Americans.
After hearing about the Obama Administration’s accomplishments last week, I was struck by the fact that our President has accomplished so much in a little over a year. Not only has President Obama spearheaded the passage of health insurance reform, he has also signed into law a historic Recovery Act that has gotten our economy moving again, presided over legislation that has saved the jobs of automobile workers, signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to help women achieve equal pay for equal work, appointed the first Latina Supreme Court justice, signed legislation to create tax cuts for small businesses, and reformed the student-loan system by increasing the number and amount of Pell Grants. His financial policies have stemmed the rate of job losses and have stabilized an economy in the middle of a global financial crisis.
Last week Governor Patrick said it best when he said that President Obama is committed to helping us all create a better country for the next generation of Americans — Governor Patrick referred to this ideal as “Generational Responsibility.”
This concept of “Generational Responsibility” was inspiring to me for several reasons. Seeing health reform fail in the past caused me, and many of my contemporaries, to harbor the cynical opinion that politics and political parties produced only gridlock without meaningful change. However, over the past year and three months I have witnessed President Obama deliver on the changes that he promised for the next generation of Americans, even when pursuing those changes has resulted in temporary setbacks and frustrations.
The President’s example has overcome any cynicism I may have harbored, and the concept of “Generational Responsibility” has inspired me to get off the sidelines. Last week, the President said that he has faith that it is possible to create meaningful changes that benefit all Americans. Since January 2009 I have observed that the “faith” about which President Obama speaks is not a mere rhetorical device — it truly is the substance of the things for which I, and many other Americans, have hoped.
So, will you get off the sidelines too? Are you Gen44?
