Barack’s victory speech
January 4, 2008 by alex
After last night, Karen and I are officially going all in. I’m usually not one for politics but I have to say that the content and delivery of Obama’s victory speech was as good as any I’ve seen in my lifetime. Granted, it is only Iowa at this point and there’s a long way to go but its a huge first step that hopefully will carry on through the month of January and beyond.
The somewhat sad thing is that as exciting as the prospect of him actually winning the election felt, it was metered by an instinctual preparation for disappointment - presumably conditioning from the past 2 elections. It also didn’t help to constantly be reminded of Mike Huckabee’s slaying in Iowa and couldn’t help but think of the scene towards the end of Jesus Camp (great, if not scary, movie) where they talk about how they feel that the evangelicals could carry any election in this country (see the clip here about 1:00 in). Granted, Iowa was a huge base for that demographic so it remains to be seen whether or not that carries over as this process gets rolling.
Another disappointing thing is to see his detractors in the media use ridiculous angles to try and pick Obama apart on the air - i.e. William Bennett being the only one referring to him as Barack Hussein Obama throughout CNN’s broadcast last night in a not so thinly-veiled attempt to continue play to people’s fears, etc. It encapsulates how so many people are so off the mark as to why you would elect someone to lead your country that it makes me want to throttle someone.
Anyway, if you missed it last night, check it out below and tell me you don’t get a few “O Captain, My Captain” chills… (if its not loading, you can go here to check it out)
Update: Also, check out Steven Johnson’s take from before yesterday, and his follow-up this morning that really highlights what made the speech so good.
Posted in Thoughts
January 4th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
Your comment about preparing for disappointment was really funny because I felt the exact same way. I got chills listening to Barack’s speech too, and am so hopeful that he winds up uniting this country. But when I was watching it, trying to imagine how great it would be for him to be President, I couldn’t stop President Huckabee from popping into my mental image. It was like a scene from a bad horror movie that I just couldn’t get out of my head. I wanted to imagine Barack at the White House, and just had to keep thinking that when Huckabee eventually wins, at least he will set a good example for all the obese people in America. That’s something, right?
January 7th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Gents, you can debunchify your panties. Huckabee isn’t going to win the nomination. Most Republicans are not the Bible thumpers you mistakenly believe they are. Fiscal conservatives justifiably don’t like the guy. He’s starting to look bad under the scrutiny of being the temporary front-runner. The guy won once, relax.
Why the perparation for dissapointment? Perhaps it is because although he makes great speeches, his message is pretty much empty rhetoric. Government is way too f’d up for anyone to bring about such ‘change’, let alone a relaitve novice like him. Obama knows this, but he also knows the message sells. Look at how many other candidates are preaching ‘change’ all of a sudden. Sptizer got elected with a landslide mandate for ‘everything changes on day one’. How’s that ‘change’ going for us? Prepare to be dissapointed no matter who wins.
The only candidate who can bring about the change we need is Ron Paul.
Just kidding. Watch out for the Paul-Bots!
March 15th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
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