MOTWA: Barack Obama

A good sign that you have a solid vision is when other candidates start using it. For this reason and for his consistency, Barack Obama wins this week’s Message of the Week Award.

Obama has been preaching a message of change and hope since his book, The Audacity of Hope, and since the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

If you compare what he said then to what he said at his victory speech in Iowa, there’s not much change.

2004:

It is that fundamental belief: I am my brother’s keeper. I am my sister’s keeper that makes this country work. It’s what allows us to pursue our individual dreams and yet still come together as one American family.

Iowa:

That is what we started here in Iowa, and that is the message we can now carry to New Hampshire and beyond; the same message we had when we were up and when we were down; the one that can change this country brick by brick, block by block, calloused hand by calloused hand – that together, ordinary people can do extraordinary things; because we are not a collection of Red States and Blue States, we are the United States of America; and at this moment, in this election, we are ready to believe again. Thank you, Iowa.

He has a strong message based on principles that he has developed and nurtured over a long period of time. It sounds authentic because it is authentic; it is what he believes.

This is what a leader does. A leader establishes a vision. And Obama’s vision has been a rock.

It is so solid that Michael Bloomberg is using it to try to form a third Unity party. The difference is that the Unity Bloomberg wants is a Unity of the rich (himself) and former “in power” elites such as Sam Nunn, Gary Hart, Chuck Nagel, and Christine Todd Whitman. It sounds like he’s trying to roll back the Republican party to a time before the neo-Conservatives took power.

Hillary Clinton also picked up Obama’s message and tried to make it her own at the debate in Manchester. “I think we’re all advocating change,” she said. But this rings hollow coming from insider’s insider. “I didn’t hear these kind of attacks from Sen. Clinton when she was ahead,” John Edwards said. “Now that she’s not we hear them.

Congratulations, Barack on building a principled stand and also on your win in Iowa! Take a minute if you have one to listen to his inspiring Iowa victory speech.