There were two big news stories yesterday: Ted Kennedy was diagnosed with an inoperable malignant brain tumor, and Barack Obama clinched a majority of pledged delegates. These two huge threads in our national fabric are intertwined by more than their chronological proximity. They are connected in spirit by the progression of the hope of a better America.

Within the Olympic games, there are team sports and individual sports. When it comes to team sports, the baton race is perhaps the most historically authentic. The team engages in a footrace, passing the baton, each racer building on the gains achieved by the previous team member. The Olympic torch relay is based on this race. Thus, the phrase "passing the torch" is generally considered to be referring to passing the mantle of leadership to the next person to take over, but at a lower level there is also the theme that one's position is improved by the efforts of the predecessor.

Ted Kennedy's long career in politics began before he became a senator. He worked on both of his brothers' campaigns, helping to usher in a new paradigm on civil rights. To bookend his career, he fought to get a bill passed that ensured employers discovered to have been discriminatory in pay practices were punished appropriately. In between, his battles for liberal causes helped create an America that cared about and cared for ALL of its citizens.

This past January, Ted Kennedy endorsed Barack Obama for president. Four months later, he's been diagnosed with brain cancer. Last night, after it was clear that Obama had gained a lead in pledged delegates that is more than the remaining delegates to be awarded in the race (indicating Clinton cannot surpass him in that regard, even if she wins 100% of the delegates in the remaining races), Obama said in his speech that he "stands on the shoulders of Ted Kennedy".

In the past forty years since Ted Kennedy entered politics, race relations in this country have gone from caustic to contentious to constrained. I remember an episode of Seinfeld, where they were discussing the black and white cookie (image here for the uninitiated). They described it as a metaphor for race relations in the city, indicating that the black and white work together for the betterment of the whole. So too may one consider Barack Obama, whom many consider as "black" while in reality he is half black and half white. Like the cookie, he is the embodiment of what race relations could be in America.

So while this race towards the presidency is nearing an end, the race towards an America where race is not even an afterthought continues. With his endorsement, Ted Kennedy has passed the torch to Barack Obama. With his gaining a majority of the delegates, Obama has shown that his feet are swift.

See you all at the finish line.