President Obama Delivers Eulogy for Nelson Mandela

NPR reports that the memorial service lasted over four hours, even though it was held outdoors in the largest soccer stadium in South Africa.  The size — but not the enthusiasm — of the audience was held down somewhat by torrential and unrelenting rain.

President Obama was greeted by loud and sustained cheering as he rose to speak.

Obama delivered a 20-minute eulogy in which he compared Mandela to Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Abraham Lincoln.

He described Mandela as the “last great liberator of the 20th century.”

Obama said it’s tempting to talk about Mandela as if he were made of marble, but he added that Mandela himself didn’t buy it. Obama quoted the late South African president as saying, “I’m not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.”

The President talked about the depth of Mandela’s empathy for others, embracing not only the victims of apartheid but its perpetrators as well.

Using Mandela’s Xhosa clan name, Obama said:

It took a man like Madiba to free not just the prisoner, but the jailor as well; to show that you must trust others so that they may trust you; to teach that reconciliation is not a matter of ignoring a cruel past, but a means of confronting it with inclusion, generosity and truth. He changed laws, but also hearts.

Obama added that Mandela’s passing is an occasion for self-reflection, a time to ask “how well have I applied his lessons in my own life?”

A raft of politicians from around the world also spoke in praise of Mandela.  After more than four hours, Anglican Archbishop Emeritus (and fellow recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize) Desmond Tutu closed the service, saying “We promise God we’re going to follow the example of Nelson Mandela.” 

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For audio, video, pictures and descriptions of Nelson Mandela’s memorial service:

NPR has the audio and transcript of President Obama’s eulogy.  PR was also live-blogging the entire memorial service.  

The BBC has extensive coverage of the memorial service.  They also have a sizeable posting of photos taken at the ceremony.

The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) aired the memorial service live and is providing continuous live coverage of the events surrounding the death of Nelson Mandela.  You can visit their YouTube channel below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WBoWoRZ20w#t=407639