Faith: it's a powerful, personal thing.

We're talking about religious faith, sure, but we're also talking about a nebulous faith that propels us toward action. You know: faith in humanity. Faith in ourselves. Faith in the ideals of democracy and free speech and the power of change. The kind of faith that gets tried a whole lot (keeping up your faith in humanity while watching a Walmart Black Friday brawl over a value pack of socks is a teensy bit hard) but stays strong.

In his speech, Obama capitalized on the inherent American faith that we are better—and will continue to be better—than we've ever been before. He knew that despite the ways we have mishandled race and race relations in our country, all hope was not lost. He had faith in the young people, the next generation, to pick up the slack and learn from the past. He had faith that the divisive preaching of the likes of Reverend Wright wouldn't inspire us to give up on our future.

In fact, Obama believed the opposite would end up happening. He believed that our faith in an equal America was stronger than the little voices of small-minded folks trying to tell us we were wasting our time…because faith doesn't fold over a little thing like adversity.