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Barack Obama has transcended above the critics to touch the heart of the America people.

Barack Obama represents hope and possibility to a vast majority of Americans. This reason, his appeal to white and black, brown and yellow and red, male and female, Democrat and Republican and Independent, rural and urban, professional and blue collar, married and single, young and old, his appeal defies election logic, he is hope, and he is the American Dream

No one heard of the "skinny black man with the funny name" outside Illinois until he rocked the nation with his 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention. He showed such hope and promise and the nation began to take notice. Then he invited people into his heart and mind by telling his story, the story of his family, and being American, gained notoriety. He truly is what a real American looks like - black and white, immigrant and native.

Barack Obama represents what is still possible once the elite no longer has golden handcuffs on the elected officials sent to represent All the People. He built an organization one person, one $5 donation at a time. He sat and listened in rural farm communities struggling against the corporate stronghold on their communities. He sat and listened in urban communities fighting gentrification, segregation, foreclosures, and recession. He listened with his heart. He could relate to them, he wasn't part of a royal American family or party dynasty. He represents what is possible.

Barack Obama epitomizes the American Dream because he is realistic. He knows it will take hard work and commitment to make sure everyone who wants it can have health care or to make sure there really are jobs after college and not a suitcase full of debt. He appeals to the future generation who has seen their nation and their parents stressed out from the financial woes of the previous administration's stranglehold on the country.

Barack Obama epitomizes the American Dream because he remembers what America was supposed to be to the immigrants who flocked here through Ellis Island. He epitomizes the American Dream because he remembers what America promised to the descendants of enslaved people who built this country. Barack Obama epitomizes the American Dream because he remembers what America owes to the world - a beacon of opportunity, a real place where ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL AND ENDOWED BY THEIR CREATOR WITH CERTAIN UNALIENABLE RIGHTS, THE RIGHT TO LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.

Barack Obama epitomizes the American Dream because he knows
1. it doesn't belong to one religious group or
2. it can't be bought by the top 1% of the wealthy or
3. it can't be hijacked by terrorists or
4. it won't be stolen by people who ignore legitimate borders or
5. it isn't the property of just one racial group or
6. it won't be scared away by gentrification or eminent domain or
7. it doesn't wear just a pair of pants or
8. it isn't afraid of a hijab or dreadlocs or yarmulkes or a cross or a horse-drawn buggy or
9. it doesn't sit idly by and watch its economy slip away for cheap imports or
10. it doesn't give up!

Barack Obama epitomizes the American Dream because he is the American Dream.

Learn more about this author, Taye Foster Bradshaw.
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