A More Perfect Union–Barack Obama

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While a candidate in the 2008 Presidential election, Barack Obama delivered a speech entitled “A More Perfect Union,” in Philadelphia, across the street from Constitution Hall. In the speech he linked his own “improbable” story to the story of America, itself an “improbable experiment in democracy.”  This speech is an example of the way we continue to “narrate America.” What we believe about America, what we and others believe “America” means, is not static or self-evident. It is an on-going project.

In this instance, Obama aimed to remind his audience that America means this, above all else: we are a nation of different peoples who, nonetheless, have the same hopes and dreams. And America, because of our values and institutions, remains a place where different peoples can come together to achieve those dreams. Like all presidential candidates before him, Obama attempted to convince his audience that he believes in the same American that they do.