Hey, where’s Phlosphr got to now? Must be frantically hunting down an online stream of the speech. 
Superb. Absolutely, undeniably Firsty Class. I cannot say or articulate in any way that would express my emotions better than continuing with renewed energy and verve campaigning for the man who I believe will be our next president of the United States.
He has renewed my pledge and my faith to his electability, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt there is no way Hillary Clinton will be able to surpass that. The doubts have been erased.
It was a great speech, and notable for its lack of bombast and crowd-pleasing vocal flourishes. This was a speech important for its ideas and I could see him consciously avoiding his rally persona, so as not to distract from the message.
It was subdued, it was intelligent, and it made a lot of good common sense.
Let’s see how it plays. 10 AM on a Tuesday was an odd choice.
It had to be early on a weekday if he wanted to get it in for inclusion in that night’s DAILY SHOW.
Look for it on every major evening news outlet, blog, you tube…This will do what it was meant to do - spread the word of unity, progress and a new future for this nation.
We would be fools not to elect such a man.
Very good job Barak! Look at your latest online donations
I wasn’t speaking of particular denominations here. Black liberation theology tends to center around individual clergymen and theologians. I don’t think the UCC enters into this much except to the degree that they tolerate a Jeremiah Wright among their membership. Since the UCC is a somewhat liberal denomination in general, I think they’d give him quite a bit of leeway.
Answered above. And I don’t particularly feel the need to provide examples of Sharpton’s anti-Semitism, as this is quite well known. If you persist, though, I’ll be happy to provide you with a nice long list of examples of that.
Yes, and I am supposed to give the statements of the Pope due respect before I agree or disagree with them, as in this case he was not speaking ex cathedra. Therefore, I am somewhat in the position of Barack Obama - and I allowed as much in my statement above, had you bothered to read it.
I’ve mentioned before that I think a part of Obama’s support, at least initially, is not so much based on race as on the fact he is the Anti-Bush. With the exception of gender and Ivy League education he’s the opposite of GWB in most factors:
Bush: white/Obama biracial
Bush: born rich/ Obama: working class roots
Bush: patrician Anglo stock/ Obama: bread basket farmers and Kenyan father
Bush: charisma of a drunk Don Knotts/ Obama: charisma of FDR
Bush: attended Ivy League as a legacy and performed lackluster/Obama: attended Ivy League by merit and performed spectacularly
ETC.
This speech reminds me of the most important difference. Bush is systemically incapable of eloquence or damage control or of making people believe e pluribus unum might be a distant possibility.
I can’t wait to get home and share this with my wife and kids. I would be very suprised and devistatingly dissappointed if history sweeps this speech under the rug. Reading this and looking forward to watching it on youtube tonight feels like watching King’s “I Have A Dream” or Kennedy’s “Ask Not” speeches. Maybe not as historical as the “Ghettysburg Address” but close.
-N8, who for the first time in 20 years has registered to vote, because of Barack Obama
I won’t get a chance to see the speech till I get home about 10:00 tonight. I’ll be counting the minutes. I got choked up reading it. Brilliance.
Ditto. After this, I was inspired to donate again.
We would be fools not to elect this person, but the American electorate has been very foolish in the not too distant past, and we are still a long way from the election…
Amazing speech! I’m about to go write out some bills, and while I have my checkbook out, I’m also sending some more money to his campaign.
On preview, I see Fritz is thinking the same thing! ::waves:: 
RANDY: [standing and clapping] Yeah! Yeah! Barack! Barack! That was hot, dawg. You did your THING, dawg, that’s what I love about you. Good looking out, dawg, that was the best of the night!
PAULA: [sobbing] That was…you make me…when you speak, it reaches into my soul and turns my aura into a rainbow. You’re like a warm rain of puppies on an autumn day…that was beautiful. You are beautiful. Call me.
SIMON: [Arms folded, rubbing one nipple] Well, it was better than last time, but it was still a bit MLK karaoke to me. It was a bit like being at some dreadful company seminar and having chicken parmisan during the dinner and then seeing some motivational speaker go up to the dais…[boos from the audience] let me finish…let me finish…and seeing some motivational speaker go up to the dais and give a pep talk…but…BUT…I think you ARE likeable and I think you will SAIL to the nomination.
RYAN: So what did you think about what Simon said?
BARACK: I will take it into consideration. I hope that I AM motivational.
RYAN: Simon, isn’t it true that you only said that because you’re a homosexual?
SIMON: Fuck off, you little closet case. You do you think you’re fooling.
RYAN: To vote for Barack Obama, go to your polling place on tuesday…
Absolutely amazing.
Have the pundits and talk-radio hosts started weighing in yet? Any read on the reaction out there?
CNN just posted a story that Clinton has a 12-point lead in PA. It will be interesting to see the next poll.
I dunno. I don’t think this is any better than that Kennedy fellow’s New Frontier speech, myself.
Forgive me for interrupting the dance music at this little shindig.
I’m sure the speech worked just dandy for all of you - who were inclined to believe the best about Obama anyway and just wanted yet another reason to like him. But do you think the speech answered every single question a questioning voter might have - or did it just excuse Jeremiah Wright as much as it could.
Don’t get me wrong - I think this was the best Obama could have done under the circumstances - but those circumstances weren’t ideal. He chose that church in the first place because it spoke to him somehow - and now we’re just supposed to write all of that anger off?
ABC News in one of their stories interviewed parishioners walking out of the church, and they seemed to believe that their pastor was telling the truth - yet Obama doesn’t think that is necessarily so. So why didn’t he go somewhere else? There are lots of churches on the south side of Chicago.
And I’ve changed churches myself - it isn’t that hard, if you decide you have to do it.
Personally, I don’t care. But I can see where a voter might change sides over this and other things. I’ve already had people back home near Pittsburgh tell me they’re looking hard at McCain - and those were hard core union Democrats.
You know, I have to disagree a bit. I read the speech and thought it was great. But I just watched it on you-tube and it fell short of my expectations. Speecifying is one of his greatest talents, and this was where I expected him to shine. But it didn’t really shine. He was much more mechanical and seemingly uncomfortable that when he is at his best.
I got the feeling that he fell in the trap of preparing the exact wrong amount. Any less and he could have improvised and gone from the heart. Any more preparation and he would have been comfortable enough with the speech to appear to be from the heart.
Ok I’m composed.
On August 28, 1963 Martin Luther King Jr., gave his famed “I have a dream” speech. He stood in front of 200,000 civil rights activists on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washignton D.C. and gave that speech. From that speech:
and
Answering that call today 44 years later Barak Obama gave a speech that superceeded his 2004 democratic convention speech, it rose above the boundaries of self and transcended the divisions of party, politics, and propriety. Obama stood up and with a courageous voice spoke the words I for one hope to remember for years to come.
Barak Obama doesn’t walk on water, he doesn’t stand taller than every man but he’s got the courage to stand up next to you toe to toe look you in the eye and say, I’ll lead this country as best as I can and will transcend that history to help bring upon a new change in Washington, a new openeing to a new generation of US Gov’t.
If Obama can answer Dr. King’s call, what will he be remembered as then? The president of change, the president who made America great again. He doesn’t need to deliver on day one as long as our country by in large stands behind him and believes, I believe he will deliver in his day.
For those who think this is mumbo jumbo take a deep breath and realize that speech in Philidelphia will be in history books - an if Obama can’t cinch the nod with it - Well hell, I’m not even going to let myself think that way!
If you’re a community organizer on the south side of chicago, it makes sense to belong to a church that resonates with the folk you’re organizing. To associate with the agitators, the politically active, the impatient, and to gain authenticity with them.
He doesn’t really say it, but it seems apparent to me that if Obama had to join a church, the most expedient move for him at the time was to join this parish. When he was not thinking of his image to kneel-sit-stand white people, because they by and large were not his constituents or supporters.
I have no doubt that the church and the pastor came to mean a lot to him, and I doubt you’ll hear him say it, but that is what I think of the original decision.
I agree that he seemed intentionally toned down, and I am not inclined to think that this will raise the same emotion as the convention speech. But I think it works well in part because of that.