Across the pond

There is mass of grey cloud obscuring Portland Bill, relieved by a few streaks of pink, a pint of hopefulness amongst gallons of grey. But as I stand at the kitchen window a yellow disc emerges above Chesil Beach. It is just gone 8 AM. In Washington many of the young folk are probably still dancing away at Inaugural Balls.

By the time I reach the study the disc of light is literally blinding me, but if I screw up my eyes, I can see that it is making a path of light to Charmouth Beach, down the hill from my house. An invitation to me to walk along it to the source of light and heat.

The sea is placid, with not a hint of the storms that Obama described yesterday. The waves are gently lapping the beach. Since I have to get the timer right at last the house is already warmed by the central heating, but when I open the door to the decorator, I am met by a blast of chill air.

Last night I wrote a jokey blog making fun of the Daily Mail’s Melanie Phillips who was mocking the 80 per cent of the world who are hailing Obamania as if it were the Second Coming.

I certainly admit to a great surge of hopefulness when I watched, heard and re-read yesterday’s speech. This young black who has been elevated by the people of America clearly could have made it as a preacher, if he had chosen that career path. And he seems to believe that God exists, whereas, like the people buying advertising on London’s red buses, my own view is that he probably does not.

But unlike JC, Obama is not urging us to leave our fishing boats and families and follow him. And unlike the American christian right, he is not telling us that if only we have faith, the good lord will make us very rich indeed. He is telling us that it is up to us to do the work to improve our own lives. He is asking us to care for the poor and homeless, and to join with him in reducing the gulf between the rich and the poor.

He is not saying, that if we do what he says, we will have a better life in Heaven. He is not trying to cheer up the poor by telling them that have a better chance to get tickets to enter the Heavenly Gates.

He is not warning the rich they will find it is as difficult to get through that gateway as a camel through the eye of a needle. He is warning the rich and powerful that:

‘without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control – that a nation cannot prosper long when it favours only the prosperous’.

That is not the Christian message. That is the American dream. That inventiveness and hard work can produce, even for the poorest and humblest, a better life in this world.

Of course, it’s only words. But Obama comes over to me as a man who means what he says and says what he means. His good intensions may he corrupted by the enormous executive power which rests in the US presidency.

But today I am welling with cautious optimism.

I believe this man from a poor black family will probably make the world a little bit better for Americans and the rest of us, given time and a dash of luck.

God (if he exists) bless America.