奧巴馬

美國總統大選一直都很招人眼球，關鍵是因為它就像一場秀，其中爾虞我詐、相互誹謗、故意中傷的情節簡直就如同一部高收視率的美劇。而08年的大選更是賣點連連，風頭正健的奧巴馬無疑就是其中之一。自美國建國以來，都是代表美國核心價值的盎格魯-撒克遜白人當選總統。現在，當20多年來最難預測的新一輪總統競選如火如荼地展開之際，人們發現，好萊塢電影中假想過無數次的黑人總統說不定真的會到來。

雖然以自由派為主的全美各大媒體對他青睞有加，但是奧巴馬在外交與國際事物方面的捉襟見肘也是顯而易見，此方面的缺失不是靠到伊拉克和歐洲走訪一圈就能彌補的。就連他提出來的“變革”的競選口號，也由于不能形成一整套成熟的政策論述而顯得蒼白無力。

但是不管11月揭曉的結果如何，作為在白人家庭長大的黑人孩子，奧巴馬本身的經歷就是對“美國夢”最好的注解，而且他對最高權利的追尋也證明了 “平等、自由、民主”存在的意義。

——Eva

By the fall of 2002， Barack Obama had been in the 1)Illinois state senate for not quite six years. He had done what he could in a state capital where Republicans ruled， and he was ready for a change. As it happened， so were voters in Illinois， who that November put the Democrats back in power in Springfield.

In The Audacity of Hope， whose publication in the fall of 2006 effectively turned what was first

2)billed as a book tour into a march toward the 3)New Hampshire 4)primary， Obama 5)cops a plea to the quintessential qualification for any presidential candidate: “a chronic restlessness， an inability to appreciate， no matter how well things were going， those blessings that were right there in front of me.” He has tried to turn this to his advantage. “I know I haven’t spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington，” he said in announcing that he would run for president. “But I’ve been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change.”

His life is the story of a person just slightly ahead of his time， of a boy and a man whose search for the meaning of his 6)paternity， and thus his identity， has led him， over and over again， to make his own luck. Every person alive faces the challenge of finding a place in the world. Obama had to work harder than most to find his own place， and he long ago concluded that it would be a prominent one， in the public arena.

Barack Hussein Obama owes his very existence to a defiance of conventional odds. He was born and 7)came of age in Hawaii， the 50th state and in many ways among the freest-thinking. If Obama comes across as a bit of a softy—if you don’t see the toughness or the ambition at first—it may be in part because he spent his formative years in a place where “Live 8)Aloha” had not yet become a slogan aimed at recapturing a more gracious time， but was simply a way of life.

His mother， Stanley Ann Dunham， was the white daughter of a Kansas furniture and insu-rance salesman. At 18， she met and married Barack Hussein Obama Sr.， a former 9)Kenyan 10)goatherd and an economist-in-training who had recently become the first African student in the history of the University of Hawaii—this in 1960， a time when inter-racial marriage was still illegal in almost half the mainland states. The couple divorced in 1963， when their son was just 2.

“There was a fundamental 11)rupture in my life between 12)Occidental and 13)Columbia， where I just became more serious，” Obama said. While he was in New York， his father died， giving the son “a sense of urgency about my own life.” He added， “Now， that doesn’t mean at that point I somehow instantly had these grand ambitions for political office. But I do think it was at that point in my life—those two years when I was in New York—where I made a decision that I wanted to， I wanted to make my mark.”

He began making that mark in Chicago， the capital of the American black 14)diaspora. Obama arrived not knowing anyone， but ended up finding his life’s work， a deep Christian faith， and the woman who would become his wife and the mother of his two young daughters. In his work in Chicago， he not only explored his identity as a black American but determined to get the law degree that he believed would best prepare him for a career in public life. Since then， Obama has never 15)veered from the course he set.

It has become all but impossible to mention Obama without invoking the name of his fellow Illinoisan 16)Abraham Lincoln， however 17)preposterous the comparison might seem 18)at first blush. On February 11， 1861， the day before his 52nd birthday， Lincoln left Springfield to assume the presidency， and as he did so he made one of the most 19)eloquent speeches of his eloquent life. “Here I have lived for a quarter of a century， and have passed from a young to an old man，” he is reported to have said. “I now leave， not knowing when， or whether ever， I may return.”

Obama’s own farewell to his colleagues in Springfield， on November 8， 2004， was less

eloquent but no less heartfelt. Afterward， he faced the Springfield press corps for the last time. Someone asked why he had already ruled out running on a national ticket with Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2008. His answer was crisp and immediate. “You know，” Obama replied， “I am a believer in knowing what you’re doing when you apply for a job. And I think that if I were to seriously consider running on a national ticket I would essentially have to start now， before having served a day in the Senate. Now， there are some people who might be comfortable doing that， but I’m not one of those people.”

But he is one of those people. He is. And wherever he is going， he has been one of them for a long， long time.

到2002年的秋季，巴拉克·奧巴馬擔任伊利諾斯州州參議員已經差不多有六年的時間了。他在這個由共和黨控制的州府已竭盡所能把一切都做了，也準備好要作出一番改變。同時，伊利諾斯州的選民們也想要看到一些改變，于是那年十一月，民主黨人重新掌握了州府斯普林菲爾德的大權。

奧巴馬于2006年秋季出版了《無畏的希望》一書，并成功地將最初宣傳說的新書簽售會變成了面向新罕布什爾州初選的大進軍。……