Don't Underestimate the Moment

In his speech, Obama should deepen his arguments about the essential public role of religion and deliver his party from its recent secularism. Religious values should not merely be tolerated out of politeness; they are, in American history, inseparable from the search for justice. They assert a divine source of human dignity -- a firm basis for human equality -- that no law or tyrant or prejudice can erase.

And to give a memorable speech, Obama must find some way to reassert his initial theme of national unity, recently drowned out by the daily gunfire of presidential politics. Every good convention speech includes clever partisan barbs (as did Kennedy's New Frontier speech). But if Obama does not distinguish himself for his post-partisan unity there is little positive justification for his candidacy. And this emphasis is needed, in a country sickened by its own blogged bitterness. Democratic nations are designed for disagreement. They are weakened by contempt. Loyalty to America, at some level, demands loyalty to one another. Love of country requires a regard and affection for our fellow countrymen.

Obama can make all these points with added power because he is part of a great moral story involving aspiration, faith and the struggle for unity. It is the story of lives and wages stolen by fraud and violence, of families broken at the auction block, of millions who died with their hopes unfulfilled, of millions who never abandoned hope. The story of self-evident truths greater than the flawed men who put them to paper, and of courageous men and women who claimed those promises in fact and in law.

This is the reason I will set my sons before the television set to watch Obama's speech. Because it is not "some men" but "all men." Because a historical journey that began in the Middle Passage can end in the Oval Office. Because a "dream deferred" can be fulfilled.

Obama should not underestimate his moment -- or squander it.