The article of today’s (August 27) Washington Post titled, “Obama offers 2012 election supporters change they can believe in — next term” begins with the following sentence:
Three years after storming the White House with the “fierce urgency of now,” President Obama has a new message for his reelection campaign: Be patient, democracy is big and tough and messy.
“When I said, Change we can believe in,’ I didn’t say, ‘Change we can believe in tomorrow,’ ” Obama told a crowd of 2,400 during a birthday celebration in Chicago this month.
For a foreign English student, it’s difficult to comprehend and discern the difference between “Change we can believe in” and “Change we can believe in tomorrow.’” What was wrong with President Obama for Americans to make change they can believe in tomorrow,”? I think most people want to believe in tomorrow, not only living today.
Can somebody elaborate the difference of meaning of “believe in,” and “believe in tomorrow”?
Best Answer
The difference stays in the add of "tomorrow".
The first message talked about a change that the American people could believe in. When Obama added that "tomorrow", he meant that the change was not meant to happen in a single day (indeed, from today to tomorrow), but rather that it required some more time.