By Lee Keun -yeup
So good and enjoyable is the memory, to which I owe the following few lines from Carl Sandburg's ``Nancy Hanks,'' the mother of Abraham Lincoln.
Upon arrival in Harrisburg from Philadelphia by carriage, with tears in her eyes, she tossed her newborn baby high up against the glare of the setting sun. ``Ho, ho, you baby. Your daddy is a gentleman in Philadelphia!''
Courteous and pious, Nancy went through all the hardships of the pioneers, toiling on the farm. Infected milk caused her to contract a fatal disease.
When she breathed her last at the age of 36, did this illegitimate daughter dream of her 12-year-old son, Abraham becoming the president of the United States of America 42 years later?
Dear readers, let me, a Vietnamologist, depict another instance in Vietnam from Son Tung's ``Ho Chi Minh.'' Ho Chi Minh's father married a village teacher's only daughter. She toiled on the farm raising two sons and a daughter plus her husband who stayed in a room, preparing for the royal court examination for mandarin for years.
When she closed her eyes at the age of 33, did the mother by the beautiful name of Loan (Phoenix) think her 12-year-old son, Cuung (Courtesy) would become the president of the Social Republic of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, 42 years later?
Here Abraham Lincoln's ``Farewell to Springfield'' on February 11, 1861:
``My friends, no one, not in my situation, appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything.
``Here I lived a quarter of a century, and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been born, and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington.
``Without the assistance of the Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail.
``Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell.''
Reading time and time again, his farewell address is never tiresome. Why? It's not an expression of his ambition for the political pinnacle. It's a solemn oath of self-sacrifice to the altar of human dignity and the emancipation of the most disadvantaged people in existence at that time.
Here is also last part from Senator Barack Obama's announcement of his presidency in Springfield, Illinois, February 10, 2007, which I think is worth noticing.
``It was in Springfield where North, South, East, West come together that I was reminded of the essential decency of the American people ― where I came to believe that through this decency, we can build a more hopeful America.
``But all of this cannot come to pass until we bring an end to this war in Iraq.
``And if you will join me in this improbable quest, if you feel destiny calling, and see as I see, a future of endless possibility stretching before us; if you sense, as I sense, that the time is now to shake off our slumber, and slough off our fear, and make good on the debt we owe past and future generations, then I'm ready to take up the cause, and march with you, and work with you.
``Together starting today, let us finish the work that needs to be done, and usher in a new birth of freedom on this Earth.''
Who say he is inexperienced? Lincoln and Obama are both a one-term representative and one-term senator from Illinois respectively. Lincoln set the classic definition of democratic institutions. Ahead of him is enduring fame.
Lincoln studied at the ``University of Nature'' in the wilderness. Obama studied from the back streets of Chicago to the highly coveted academic throne of Columbia and Harvard Law School.
His counterpart is his outspoken wife, Michelle, a Princeton and Harvard Law School graduate. The education they got was a subtle balance of egalitarianism and elitism, unique to America.
Some talk about Obama's biracial family background. Yet, his is a natural skin color of a genuine son of the American soil. At South Carolina State University Michelle spoke movingly about ``the veil of impossibility'' that keeps down colored people and their children and keeps them waiting and hoping for a turn that may never come.
She says colored people are more ready and prepared for the presidency than we ever imagined. Recently Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has also said the U.S. is ready for a colored president
Now we witnessed the white majority's enthusiastic cheers and support for Obama at the Iowa caucus and the endorsements of Caroline and Ted Kennedy, the last standard bearer of the Kennedy Camelot.
Abraham Lincoln stands tall at Springfield Depot. Barack Obama stands tall on the platform of the presidential race. On the morning of Obama's presidency we will see the essential decency of the American people and America will regain its lost esteem. Then I will truly say God bless America.
Dr. Lee Keun-yeup is director of the nonprofit Korea Center for Social Sciences and Humanities of Vietnam and a founding member of the Korean Association for East European and Balkan Studies. He is a regular contributor to The Korea Times. He can be reached at kylee301110@ hanmail.net.