Over at www.ohmygov.com, YACers have been hitting the comment boards big time urging Senator Obama to co-sponsor S. 960, the Academy bill on the Senate side.  Thank you ohmygov.com for being a “proud supporter” of the Academy!

Help us out by commenting here and also getting in touch with Obama’s Senate office.   Call his Senate office TODAY! 202-224-2854 and ask to speak to the aides who handle Homeland Security issues (our bill has been referred to that committee).  Tell them you heard the Wesleyan speech and know about the Academy and want his support.  And tell everyone you know in Illinois to call twice!

Yesterday, Senator Barack Obama delivered the commencement address at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.  He spoke in place of Senator Edward Kennedy who is recuperating after a seizure caused by a brain tumor several days ago.  Senator Obama focused his entire speech on Kennedy’s chosen theme of public service, a topic he continues to press on the presidential campaign trail as well.  (Kennedy is already a co-sponsor of the Academy bill - S. 960 -  and we are currently seeking Sen. Obama’s support!)

The NY Times noted that “symbolism of protégé and mentor permeated the address,” but it was the focus on service that caught my attention.  Obama has finally gotten comfortable telling his story to voters outside of Illinois, and it is a story of service.  In the address, he told the graduates about his desire to serve, even in the face of advice to go to law school and start his high-paying law career as soon as possible.  However, he did something different, he wrote letters.  He describes writing letters to “every [service] organization in the country I could think of.”  One finally yielded an offer, a church group in Chicago organizing the community struggling to deal with the hardships caused by the closing of steel mills.  Even though he knew no one in Chicago, and his mother and grandparents balked, he jumped right in.  It was through service that he found himself and was “embraced” by the community he had imagined.

Obama’s letter writing made me think of one thing only: the letters written by our YACers to their Senators and Congressmen and Congresswomen asking for their sponsorship of the Academy.   Not to mention all the letters written by volunteers and supporters at Letter Writing Parties!  These very letters are what making this dream a reality.  The power of this small act, this persistence, is creating the opportunity for future college students to attend the Academy to carry on the tradition and obligation of service to country.  Obama also said, “you have an obligation to yourself, because our individual salvation depends on collective salvation.”  The YACers who participate today are doing so not so they can attend the Academy as an individual, instead they are creating the opportunity for the collective of others to follow.

Arizona Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee for President, visited the U.S. Naval Academy (his alma mater) today on a campaign stop.  He gave a very personal speech about how his years at the Naval Academy instilled his beliefs in public service and continue to inform and inspire his service to America today.  Senator McCain went on of course to serve his mandated time in the Navy after his graduation, and as is widely known was taken as a POW in the Viet Nam War.  His sacrifice for our country while serving in the Navy during wartime was deeply courageous and symbolic of the kind of citizenship on which American values are based.After giving some background on his constant insubordination while at the Naval Academy and some reflective insight as to his youthful behavior, the bulk of McCain’s speech focused on citizenship and service to America.  He deftly defined “citizenship” in several ways that I think most Americans can agree on.  Some of my favorites are:

…For too many Americans, the idea of good citizenship does not extend beyond walking into a voting booth every two or four years and pulling a lever… Citizenship is not just the imposition of the mundane duties of democracy. Nor is it the unqualified entitlement to the protections and services of the state…   

Citizenship thrives in the communal spaces where government is absent. Anywhere Americans come together to govern their lives and their communities — in families, churches, synagogues, museums, symphonies, the Little League, the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, the Salvation Army or the VFW — they are exercising their citizenship. ??

Citizenship is defined by countless acts of love, kindness and courage that have no witness or heraldry and are especially commendable because they are unrecorded…

 The Senator also specifically asked Americans to get engaged in the process of citizenship in several ways:

I hope more Americans would consider enlisting in our Armed Forces. I hope more would consider running for public office or working in federal, state and local governments. But there are many public causes where your service can make our country a stronger, better one than we inherited. Wherever there is a hungry child, a great cause exists. Where there is an illiterate adult, a great cause exists. Wherever there are people who are denied the basic rights of Man, a great cause exists. Wherever there is suffering, a great cause exists.    

I think his call to service is also the type of sacrifice that so many are willing to make to participate in solutions to problems big and small.  Last week, I quoted NY Times columnist David Brooks and syndicated columnist Mark Shields discussing the 5 year anniversary of the Iraq War and once again, the topic of sacrifice AND service came up in the same breath.  As Mr. Brooks noted, all the candidates have been discussing public service and there is a great need to have a cohesive vision on the topic.  And great news (!), the Public Service Academy already provides the cohesive, bi-partisan, citizenship-driven vision to make public service a part of every American’s life.

The Academy will provide a place for those who are not cut-out for the military, but have the desire to serve.  It will encourage serving the cause, running for the office, easing the suffering, and making our country better than the one we inherited.  I look forward to Senator McCain’s endorsement and support of the Academy no matter the outcome of the election because he embodies the spirit of service, and as a result will continue to inspire generations of Americans to be excellent citizens.