On Sam Cooke and Obama

On December 21, 1963, Sam Cooke walked into RCA studios and recorded "A Change Is Gonna Come," a song that has appeared on countless 'Greatest Of' lists and that ultimately came to exemplify the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Nearly forty-five years later, Barack Obama has sprung up as a legitimate presidential candidate and as the American democratic party's prescribed "candidate for change." The similarities between the two men are evident yet mostly transparent. Both are (in Cooke's case, now posthumously) prominent figures in their communities, both spent a good portion of their lives in Chicago, and almost irrefutably, as can be evidenced by Cooke's recording and by Obama's numerous campaign slogans, both are staunch believers in change. It is in this principal then, rather than in the two mens' personal life parallels, that the intrigue lies in this spring preceeding November's US general election.

While it would be erroneous to say that Sam Cooke's poignant single about the conditions of race in America was met with real resistance upon its release, it is at least worth noting that "A Change is Gonna Come" (officially released December 22, 1964, almost exactly a year to the day after its recording and only eleven days after Cooke's untimely death) was considered only a moderate commercial success when placed alongside many of the singer's equally famous recordings. Its sales point perhaps to a nation's resistance to embrace a highly polarized statement in the midst of political uncertainty, but without a doubt its legacy as an anthem for change can be owed to the will of the people and admiring songwriters who grew to embrace it. "A Change Is Gonna Come," despite its sweeping and heavy-handed backing arrangement, earned its place in cultural lore because of the timely and perhaps inevitable collision of two powerful elements - the earnest aching and conviction of Cooke's voice and lyrics, and the public's yearning for change.

That Obama now calls for similar, if not more over-arching change nearly a half century later with only mixed results, is important. His inability to thus far overcome Hillary Clinton in the democratic primary can perhaps be attributed to a number of things, not the least of which being an overblown forced perception of Clinton as a simple representative of the status quo. Indeed, a side by side comparison of the two candidates stances of a number of important issues reveals this to be false (or, at least, extremely questionable). What truly marks Obama then as the "candidate for change" lies once again in the mixing of two key elements - the candidate's stormy and oft-inspirational orations, and the American people's enthusiastic responses.

Why then, when just last month Obama delivered his own "A Change Is Gonna Come" in the form of a landmark speech on race, were the senator's words suddenly met with little more than liberal media adoration? Why is it that such illuminating words - and yes, the risk factor involved in giving such a speech during an election year and Obama's willingness to depoliticize the topic no matter the political implications do qualify the speech as illuminating - why have such words already been tossed off as little more than musings caught in the wind (rather than as, say, a modern day "Blowin' In The Wind")? Could it be that America is simply not ready for the kind of broad change that a new liberal presidency offers? Or is it that we've simply become too comfortable to care?

Last Friday, 35,000 people came out to Independence Park in Philadelphia to hear Obama speak. Their fervency is only one example of the wide support and optimism that has surrounded the campaign since its inception. However, if Barack Obama is to win his party's nomination and ultimately, the presidency, it will be because the American people, on whom this one of a kind campaign have placed so much onus on already, continue to stand and call for change. And while they must continue to do this through rallies and on you tube and through catchy slogans, it is ultimately in the voting booth where real change will begin. Because if Obama's campaign has taught us anything, it's that words in speeches, while important, only mean so much, and it is through actions that we define ourselves and the moments in which we live.

When Sam Cooke stepped into a recording booth in 1963 and sang the words, "There have been times I thought I couldn't last for long, but now I think I'm able to carry on. It's been a long time coming, but I know a change gonna come," he meant it with every ounce of his soul. That song, such a bittersweet projection if there ever was one, showed what he could have done had he lived through the 60s and beyond. In that same vein, and in the hopes of one over-zealous, idealistic, and long-winded blogger, it would be a shame to see Obama's promise for change flame out after such a mesmerizing opening verse.