Obama’s train ride is guilty of being an almost cheesy symbol for to us to attach him with Lincoln, an action whose motives are clearly visible.  This symbol is see through. But the best symbols should be see through–that’s the point. Many of the trinkets people wear on chains around their necks and hang above their beds are symbols; their only problem is they keep getting in the way of us seeing through them.

Obama’s train ride along the route that Lincoln took should be taking our minds back when another Illinois Senator stepped up and took the reigns of power in America during a time when the seams were busting and it didn’t look like the jacket vest was going to hold the power in the gut anymore. Well, it held with a few refittings–you remember that whole “bloodiest war in the history of our country” thing don’t you?  Back when Ohioans shot at Tennesseans and Virginia went to war with Washington, a small “district” carved out of a patch of land in Virginia. That war was fought over a song lyric that wouldn’t be invented for another hundred and thirty years. Seriously, the Civil War was fought over the culminating lyric in Rage Against the Machine’s 1991 masterpiece Killing in the Name Of. It goes like this: “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me!”

All wars that involve freedom of the individual’s right to choose their own future, their happiness; by engaging in a protected but open exchange of ideas, services, and goods with other free individuals; all wars where men and women fight for quiet peaceful moments with their families and friends all have this lyric as their anthem. In many ways, Obama’s election last year was similar to the one the American people made in 1860.

There are many people with deep hearts and some of them with deep pockets who believe from crown to sole that this is a world and a country worth saving; worth working on more than eight hours a day if necessary; worth more than letting our minds sink from the flag on the summit when we’ve just reach the highest base camp; there are many people out there saying, “We can still save this thing.”

The train is pulling into the station, my friends. It’s going to be one hell of a ride but we have what appears to be a competent and compassionate driver. But then again, that’s what I thought about the last one.

photo credit: mccready

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