美國總統(tǒng)大選一直都很招人眼球，關(guān)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(jié)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(fēng)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(dāng)選總統(tǒng)?，F(xiàn)在，當(dāng)20多年來最難預(yù)測的新一輪總統(tǒng)競選如火如荼地展開之際，人們發(fā)現(xiàn)，好萊塢電影中假想過無數(shù)次的黑人總統(tǒng)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(jié)果如何，作為在白人家庭長大的黑人孩子，奧巴馬本身的經(jīng)歷就是對“美國夢”最好的注解，而且他對最高權(quán)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(dān)任伊利諾斯州州參議員已經(jīng)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(quán)。

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。書中，奧巴馬輕描淡寫地說出了任何一個總統(tǒng)候選人都應(yīng)該具備的典型條件：“長期的躁動，無論事情發(fā)展的態(tài)勢有多么好，也無法意識到好景就在面前。”他曾試圖將這變成他的優(yōu)勢。“我知道我并沒有花太多的時間學(xué)習(xí)在華盛頓的生存之道，”他宣布要競選總統(tǒng)時曾經(jīng)說過，“但是我在那里待的時間足夠讓我知道華盛頓必須作出改變?！?/p>

從他的人生軌跡，總能看到他稍占先機的故事。在他的孩童時代，以及成人之后，他一直在探尋自己族裔文化的意義，他的身份則一次又一次指引著他，給他帶來好運。每個人活著都要面對在世間尋找自己一席之地的挑戰(zhàn)，而奧巴馬則需要加倍努力才能找到屬于他的位置，而很久以前他就認定，屬于自己的將是個顯赫之位，政壇舞臺上的一席要地。

巴拉克·胡賽因·奧巴馬認為全因?qū)γ\常規(guī)的桀驁不馴，自己才得以生存。他在美國的第五十個州——夏威夷出生并長大成人，這里在許多方面都是思想最自由的地方。如果奧巴馬給人的印象有那么點溫和的話——假如你一開始沒看出他堅韌或雄心勃勃的一面——部分原因可能是由于在他性格形成的時期，他一直住在夏威夷，那時“Live Aloha”就是當(dāng)?shù)厝说纳罘绞?，不像現(xiàn)在變成只為重獲更閑適的生活而喊喊的口號。

他的母親斯坦利·安·鄧納姆是個白人，她的父親是堪薩斯州的一位家具和保險銷售員。在她18歲那年，她認識并嫁給了老巴拉克·胡賽因·奧巴馬，他過去曾在肯尼亞牧羊，當(dāng)時成為了夏威夷大學(xué)的第一名非洲學(xué)生，專攻經(jīng)濟學(xué)。那是在20世紀60年代，不同種族通婚在美國大陸將近一半的州仍是不合法的。這對夫婦于1963年離婚，他們的兒子那時才兩歲。

“從西方學(xué)院轉(zhuǎn)到哥倫比亞大學(xué)，我的人生發(fā)生了深刻的裂變，在那里我的態(tài)度變得更認真了，” 奧巴馬說道。他在紐約的時候，他的父親去世了，這給他帶來了“一種對自己人生的緊迫感”。他又說道：“那并不意味著當(dāng)時我出于某種原因突然對政府公職產(chǎn)生了巨大的野心。不過我確實認為在我生命中的那段時間——我在紐約的那兩年——我決定了我想要什么，我要在世上留下自己的印記。”

他開始在美國黑人的散居之都芝加哥一步一個腳印走出自己的路。他剛到該地時，一個人都不認識，最后卻找到了他一生的事業(yè)、虔誠的基督教信仰以及最終成為他妻子并為他誕下兩個女兒的女人。在芝加哥工作時，他不僅探究了他作為美國黑人的身份，還決心要拿到法律學(xué)位，因為他相信那將是為他的政治生涯做的最好的準備。從那時開始，奧巴馬就再也沒有偏離過他自己設(shè)定的人生方向。

說到奧巴馬就不能不提及同樣來自于伊利諾斯州的亞伯拉罕·林肯的名字，這樣的相提并論也許一開始你會覺得很荒謬。1861年2月11日，林肯過52周歲生日的前一天，他離開普林菲爾德赴任總統(tǒng)，當(dāng)時他做出了他能言善辯的一生中最動人的演說?！拔以谶@里居住了將近1/4個世紀，從一名青年變成了老者，”據(jù)報道說他曾這樣說，“我現(xiàn)在要離開了，不知道什么時候或究竟能不能回來?！?/p>

而2004年11月8日在斯普林菲爾德，奧巴馬私下對同事的辭別并沒有這么壯語滔滔，卻同樣真誠。后來，他最后一次面對斯普林菲爾德的媒體時，有人問他，為什么他已經(jīng)排除在2008年的全國大選中跟希拉里·羅德姆·克林頓競逐的可能性。他的答案很干脆且不假思索?！澳阒?，”奧巴馬回答說，“我堅信，在你申請一份工作時就該知道自己正在做什么。而且我認為，如果我真要考慮競選總統(tǒng)的話，就必須在當(dāng)參議員之前，從現(xiàn)在就開始準備。有些人也許覺得現(xiàn)在大可以去競選總統(tǒng)，但我不屬于那種人?！?/p>

然而他是屬于那種人的。他確實屬于。而且無論他現(xiàn)在要往哪里走，很早很早以前他已經(jīng)是那種人了。