http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT1516iJ57U&feature=player_embedded
Does either Republican candidate have a snowball’s chance in a fire of winning Michigan after that?
I think Obama could have come out on stage in his underwear and done nothing but pour a jar of mustard over his head and walked off and still neither Republican candidate would have had a chance in hell at Michigan in the general election.
After Obama gave a stemwinder to a friendly audience?
Michigan’s long been a pretty safe state for the dems; what exactly are you referring to?
I thought it was a little preachy after the first few minutes. To me, Obama can come off as channeling a baptist preacher sometimes. That little smirk he gets a few times would drive me crazy if was a Republican.
Did anyone else see Obama’s speech to the UAW yesterday? It was spectacular. I think this is meant to be his official shift back into campaign mode, and it is a sight to behold. I’m surprised more people aren’t talking about it today.
What I love about it is that it’s so old school. I think the speech (and the setting) works to remove the debate from what have become the usual liberal and conservative talking points over the last few election cycles, and takes the Democratic party back to its “support the working man” roots.
I worry that all the union boss hugging at the beginning will give conservatives more reason to shriek about “Obama’s cronies,” but the speech is a really strong attempt at shifting the topic of discussion to arguments that Obama can win.
Full speech (30 minutes):
Five-minute excerpt:
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/02/obama-on-fire-in-michigan.html
Never have understood what RWs have against labor unions anyway . . . collective bargaining is just another form of negotiation-in-the-marketplace.
I watched the long version and enjoyed listening to him- he’s a good speaker. I like the part about how we are all in this together and we need to reach a hand back to help the one behind us come up, too, unlike the Republican ideal of ‘you are on you own’. I agree with this sentiment.
Meh, I listened, and there wasn’t a single mention of what really matters to the Michigan voter: Tree Height!
Typical out of touch liberal.
(but yea, putting this side by side with Romney’s campaign speech in the same state, certainly no contest on whose the better speaker. Obviously there’s a lot more to being President, or even running for President, but Obama certainly has the advantage in this dept)
Because it gives power to those who are mere workers. Heaven forbid! :rolleyes:
It may be just me, I doubt it, although it’s possible, but I’m becoming a bit fatigued of Obama’s oratorical gymnastics. Yes, he’s a good speaker, but sometimes I wish he’d just talk, not over-emote, not click over into Baptist preacher whenever he’s on a roll, and cut way back on the crescendo-building, to like maybe once per speech.
Sometimes it would be nice to hear more of the professor and less channeling of MLK.
Yeah, I know this thread is about content and not style, but with Obama, at least for me, they go hand in hand.
He’s not quite Bubba*, but he can sing when he has to.
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- The only president in my time whose State of the Union I’d watch.
Really? Seems like he limits that type of stuff to campaign season and has spent most of the last three years in Professor mode. Indeed I thought that was what the OP meant by “shift back into campaign mode”.
I wrote almost the same thing in this thread. I like me some Obama but sometimes he gets on a roll.
Do the comments on YouTube videos just depress the hell out of you? I know I shouldn’t read them, but I sometimes just can’t help myself. Too many of my fellow country-men/-women are morons.
Don’t worry too much about it. They’re a self-selected group of “people who post comments on YouTube videos”*, not a cross-section of the American body politic.
*aka: morons
I haven’t heard the speech. I’ll probably listen to it tonight.
I’m willing to grant you that it’s a spectacular speech. But it’s just a speech.
I have to ask, though, where Obama was last year? When half a dozen states tried to eliminate union rights under the guise of balancing the budget, where was Obama? When Wisconsin protested in the tens of thousands for weeks on end in the cold of Winter, where was Obama? When Obama said in his 2008 campaign that if they went after unions he’d be right on the line rolling up his sleeves and fighting back…where was Obama?
Campaigns are full of poetry, pretty speeches, and perfect promises. I’m not holding my breath in anticipation of reality matching his words.
They should be glad write-in votes weren’t allowed. It would have been embarrassing to Romney, Santorum, and Gingrich if Obama had won the Republican primary.
What did you want him to do, invade Wisconsin? He spoke out against the anti-Union law and instructed his campaign organization worked with protesters, but it was a state law, there wasn’t much else he could do.
The President isn’t a God-King. He has pretty limited powers when it comes to a lot of domestic issues.
Last year unemployment was over 10%, the not-yet-begun GOP primary season had the media all a-twitter, and the insanity that is the GOP candidates were not yet in full view of the country. He was less popular last year, and bringing him out to any political protest would have meant more negative coverage and not helped the cause.
This year, we’ve seen the promises that the GOP is offering, one of forced rape babies, a bankrupt auto industry, and more tax cuts for the rich. Obama’s stature has risen with the falling of the GOP candidates and that’s why he’s started to insert himself into more causes
An atheist, Muslim, Baptist preacher, you mean.