Was that speech something, or what? You think Clinton was good last night, you shoulda heard this kid.
I think we were just watching the ~46th President of the United States.
Wow.
Anybody got a transcript yet? Here’s a quote ganked from Atrios:
The guy’s 42 years old. He looks to be in his late 20s. What’s up with that?
Awesome, awesome speaker. The Dems sure do have a nice large pool of orators to choose from.
He was awesome, as was Ron Reagan.
However, I think tonight’s crown goes to Teresa Heinz. What an incredible person. She is exactly the sort of woman I want in Washington. If only she could run for president herself!
Wow.
I remained choked up for almost the entire latter half of Obama’s speech. That man is phenomenal. I will certainly be voting for him if he decides to run in oh, 8 years or so.
Is there a way to purchase the Convention on DVD (after it’s over, obviously)? I would love to add Obama, Clinton and Teresa Heinz Kerry’s speeches to my DVD collection. Man, oh man.
Can’t WAIT to vote. Hurry up, November!
I, too, have to chime in on how impressive [Senator?] Obama’s speech was. I think my mouth went agape after the first couple of minutes…
The thought had entered my mind as well.
LilShieste
(and maybe this is something more for Cafe Society)
I had only the most vague awareness of who Obama was before tonight. Mostly I just knew him from the soap opera that is the current Illinois senatorial election. I was totally blown away by this guy. I got the same feeling from watching him tonight as I got when I first saw Michael Jordan playing for North Carolina. A sense, that I was seeing a major superstar in the making. I actually got chills down my spine and that’s not something that’s ever happened to me from listening to a politician, not even Clinton. With Clinton I always felt like it was a performance- an extremely skillful performance- but a performance nonetheless. There was a sincerity of passion in Obama tonight that was radiant. He also projected a genuine depth of intellect. Even though I had never seen him speak before, halfway through the speech, the thought…no, not a thought, more like the realization went through my head that this guy’s going to be president. I don’t know when, but he’s going to be president. It was a good feeling.
Man, I’m regretting I wasn’t home to watch tonight.
I want to know if all of you would have felt the same way if Barack Obama were a white man named, say, Ben Jones.
I think people are raving about him in part because he’s an African-American with an exotic name. If he was a bland WASP who had given the exact same speech I have no doubt that this fervor over Mr. Obama would be about 1/3 less than it is now.
I know everyone is going to get defensive and call me a racist. Before you do so please think about what I’m saying. And I agree with Obama and I would have no reservations about supporting him politically. I just think part of this has to do with the fact that we are used to the African-American community being represented in politics by blubbering clowns like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton.
If they had more leaders like Obama I think they’d get far more political respect.
I was impressed by Obama’s words not his fucking skin, thank you very much.
You’re welcome very much. See, I told you you’d get defensive!
BTW, what is this impulse by so many to refer to black politcal activists as “black leaders?” What do you mean “if they had more leaders like Obama…?” Does anyone ever talk about what kind of leaders white people need? Does anyone call GWB a “white leader?” Does anyone make patronizing assertions about who white people should follow?
I didn’t think of Barack Obama as anything but a leader.
African-American politicians like Sharpton and Jackson fashion themselves as leaders for the black community.
The “white community” has no analagous situation because there’s no such thing as the “white community.” White people in America are made up of East Coast Democratic WASPS, Southern and Midwestern farmers, ethnic Catholics in Boston and New York, Jews all over the country, Yuppies, rust-belt blue-collar Democrats, and politically independent and apathetic youth in college campuses all over the country.
Blacks in America are much more unified in their support of the Democratic party and their political interest in issues relevant to their communities: unemployment, crime, and education, all issues on which the Democratic party is far more appealing. Thus they have indeed rallied en masse under leaders like Sharpton and Jackson (who won the overwhelming support of the African-American community when they ran, respectively, for Mayor and President.)
However strong their intentions are I personally do not care for Jesse Jackson and even less so for Sharpron; I would rather have someone like Obama speak for me were I myself black.
Well, goddamned. I knew Clinton was gonna be on fire, but I wish I’d heard more of this. Speeches like this, and Reagan’s, are makin’ me hope that a lot of the petty bickering is leaving politics.
This election year may be a wasteland, but hey, maybe ‘08 will be a time when most people actually respect both the guys runnin’…
Or maybe I’m too optimistic. But whatever. Good stuff, time to find a full transcript…
I think Jeb Bush is going to be a serious Republican candidate in 2008.
C-span offers thousands of programs available on VHS and DVD. They have convention speeches which go back to 1988.
I’m just curious about that name, “Barack”. Where is it from? I’ve never even heard of an American with that name before.
It means Blessed in Arabic. It is almost the same as the Hebrew ‘Baruch,’ meaning the same thing.
(Obama’s father was a Kenyan [African] Muslim.)