The sense of hope that is accompanying the election of Barack Obama to the U.S. Presidency is powerful and hard to resist. Like most people around the world, we here at the Wellesley Institute send our congratulations and best wishes to the President-elect.
The process of change, which came to be a powerful organizing theme of the Obama campaign, is important. Here at the Wellesley Institute, we say that government’s don’t start parades, they join them.
Mr. Obama himself said these words: “History teaches us… the change we need doesn’t come from Washington. Change comes to Washington. Change happens because the American people demand it – because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time.”
For the positive, progressive, pragmatic change to truly sweep over Washington, the waves will have to start throughout the country and roll over the U.S. capital. Mr. Obama, with his background as a community organizer, understands this process of change.
With Mr. Obama’s election, the real work of change is just beginning.