I think to understand the Obama campaign, one must truly see and hear the foundations upon which it is built.  This campaign, its message and its success are not new; they died 40 years ago at the Ambassador Hotel.  It's a bleak statement and rash generalization, but take a half hour and listen to Bobby Kennedy speak and I think you'll see better why America is so ready for this movement.

"Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
Bobby Kennedy, University of Cape Town, South Africa (1966)

To think that race would not be a part of this campaign is to think that the civil rights movement was won and is over, that the millions of people who lived through that divisiveness have moved on and past.  But of course the civil rights movement never ended but expanded to represent the true diversity of this country, which in many ways drowned out its fundamental message, hope and understanding.  Many of those who lived through the 1960s find that experience to be fundamental to how they define themselves and how they view the world.  

In short, this country remains divided, but less so.  One of the big reasons for that was Bobby Kennedy, a man who, like Archimedes, lived by the words "Give me a place to stand and I will move the world." (BK Cape Town, 1966).  The message then, as it is now, was that empowered individuals who hope for a better future and are willing to work for it through learning and understanding and teaching can build that future that they dream of.  

For a brief campaign in a now idealized time, Bobby Kennedy brought this message to America.  If you want a snapshot of this time, take a look at this video from his California campaign: Bobby Kennedy - Fearless

Bobby Kennedy was a giant, a one in a million intellect, a man of honesty, and a man who devoted himself to the betterment of others.  I believe he developed from his brother the foundation of all great politicians, courage.  He was a man who could quote Aeschylus from memory to a large crowd, black and white, after telling them that Dr. King had been assassinated: "And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God."  He was a man who traveled to South Africa in 1966, spoke with the people and spoke out against Apartheid and oppression.  

But his message was always about hope.  That was what he told the black South Africans under the oppression of Apartheid; hope and understanding. Bobby Kennedy's hope was the exact opposite of how hope often gets characterized; it was active.  He defined it; "these men moved the world, and so can we all. Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation. Thousands of Peace Corps volunteers are making a difference in isolated villages and city slums in dozens of countries. Thousands of unknown men and women in Europe resisted the occupation of the Nazis and many died, but all added to the ultimate strength and freedom of their countries. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped." (BK, Cape Town 1966)

If you want to hear the entire Cape Town Speech, it's available on this website: http://www.rfksa.org/

Bobby Kennedy understood race in America better than any politician before or since.  He was able to speak about it directly, confronting injustice while promoting understanding.  He was able to get people of all walks of life to listen and think, something politicians ask us to do less and less.  

With Senator Obama's campaign, Bobby Kennedy's movement continues and grows.  But with that momentum and empowerment comes responsibility; responsibility to understand our past and our roots, responsibility to listen to each other and think for ourselves, and responsibility to ask more of ourselves than we ask of others.  

It is a lot to live up to, but it is and has always been that core idealistic premise behind our entire nation, that a group of us can get together, work hard, learn, teach, struggle and change the world.  It comes down to that; that's why we hope.  It's why our hope is not naive.  

Finally, we must also remember that while many people came away from the 1960s fearful and divided, others learned and built upon that time.  There are many voices out there who can speak about race and division and overcoming the hurdles that confront us; chief among them is Sen. Ted Kennedy.  I know because I've heard him do it in one of the most beautiful speeches of all time, his Eulogy of Bobby Kennedy.  I hope we hear from him soon.  

-- UPDATE --

After Sen. Obama's speech "A More Perfect Union," he told ABC:

And so, hopefully this is something that we have talked about, we've lifted up, it will spur discussion, like Robert Kennedy's wonderful metaphor, "ripples of hope." You know, you throw a rock into a pond and those ripples will go out. We don't know where those ripples will go. I have no idea how this plays out politically. But I think it was important to do.