A Speech for the Ages
It doesn't get much better than that. That's the speech I imagined when Obama announced his candidacy over a year and a half ago. It was the kind of speech that can make even the most cynical among us let their guard down and believe, even if just for a moment, that politics can be so much more than what we're used to, what we've come to expect. If there were any Democrats out there who were suffering from buyer's remorse, I think that probably cured it.
UPDATE: Good grief. What's the matter with the AP? This is the story that went out on the wires? Did that guy even watch the speech? What a complete schmuck.
posted by A.L. at 10:03 PM
10 Comments:
47 year old white guy from rural ohio.
The Martin Luther King part towards the end almost brought me to tears.
A moment for the ages. I'll never forget it.
Peace to all.
In some ways, it's too bad that Hillary had to run against this guy. She really didn't lose; Obama just won. There's no shame in making it such a close contest with him. None at all.
We really needed someone exceptional after the last eight years. I really think we might have it. This is just his moment, and now maybe ours too.
i just can't get over the hubris of this obama guy, delivering a speech in front of...yellow window panes.
who does he think he is, Peter Brady?
Much of the MSM including the nimrod AP reporter who wrote the article that you posted are simply afraid of Obama and the possibility of having the first
bi-racial President in office. Omama did an outstanding job. Many pioneers that paved the way through barriers before Obama would be proud. What can you say to a candidate that delivered a powerful speech on the anniversary day of the MLK speech.
Now, the spotlight is on RNC event and McCain next week. I just read that the stadium that the RNC is having the convention is not sold out. And they may give out free tickets.
AL, when I read posts like yours, I don’t know whether to laugh or be a little worried.
On the laugh side, do you realize how much you sound like a teenage girl who just attended a Jonas Brothers concert? A speech for the ages? Are you claiming that this speech ranks with “I have a dream” or the Gettysburg Address, or are you “merely” claiming that it will go down as the most important and memorable nomination acceptance speech ever given?
Seriously, how many speeches for the ages has Obama already given? There was the 2004 Convention speech, the Race in America speech, the Berlin speech . . . At this point, maybe comparisons between Lincoln and Obama are unfair . . . to Obama. Shouldn’t we be talking about blasting over Mt. Rushmore and replacing it with Mt. Obama? Gee, I wonder where Republicans get these ideas about Obama worship?
On the worry side, it doesn’t seem to cross your mind that maybe the AP reporter is just a tad more objective than you are on this subject. In your view, anyone who hasn’t drunk the Obama kool-aid is either stupid or biased (see your post on Mark Halperin). And since any criticism of Obama is prima facie evidence of stupidity or bad faith, surely the Obama campaign has every right to quell such criticism by any means necessary.
Right now the Obama campaign is threatening criminal investigations of groups that want to run ads critical of the candidate. It is trying to intimidate media outlets from hearing from investigative reporters like Stanley Kurtz. It has had an ABC reporter arrested in Denver for filming on a public sidewalk.
Thank goodness our civil liberties will be safe if these folks get into office.
I thought it was amazing. There were moments when I actually let my normal cynical, overly analytical self drop away, and started to believe that we really can make a difference. Finally - finally - I get what "hope" means. And I thought all along it was just a vacuous campaign slogan!
Listening to Obama's speech came on the heels of hearing MLK's speech on the radio a couple hours earlier. The combination led me to an insight about the Right: the reason they are such an inane and pathetic group is because of their fear. They are absolutely terrified that somewhere, deep inside themselves they have the power to make a positive difference. It's so scary that they do everything in their power to suppress that idea. They embrace stupid, cynical and hateful policy, shit on meaningful discussion of difference, and do everything possible to keep others as well from believing they can make a real difference. Sad, sad people.
MLS,
I kind of feel sorry for you at times like this. The reality is that occassionally historical things happen. I'm sure when MLK gave his famous speech, there were a few cynical curmudgeons like you who mocked the people who were inspired by it.
It's hard to know how history will unfold, but I think it's not inconceivable that this speech will someday be looked back on as one of the truly historic and memorable speeches in American history. Maybe not, but it was certainly better than any acceptance speech I've seen in my lifetime. Mock that if you want. I don't care.
As for the AP piece, my problem isn't that the AP reporter didn't see the speech the way I saw it. Frankly, given the time the article was published, I don't think the AP reporter saw it at all. I think he based his story on the transcript that leaked before Obama took the stage. Not only that, but his specific criticism--that the speech lacked substance--is total nonesense. You didn't have to like the speech to see it was highly substance for an acceptance speech. Did he expect Obama to take out powerpoint slides and graphs?
Not only that, but I find it really obnoxious that the lead wire service is cranking out opinion pieces within moments after the speech is over. Can't they just report the facts? Why do we need snap "analysis" from a wire reporter?
I stand second to nobody in my cynicism and skepticism, and I never watch political speeches, as I find the cognitive dissonance between what the speakers say and what is actually accomplished too painful.
I read the transcripts, so I can skip the boilerplate.
Obama's speech was a very moving, and, in my opinion, a very effective, speech, even when read. That's very rare. It had more content than any of George Bush's speeches, not that that's a high standard. Further, it was extremely well grounded. The things Obama says he would do are well within his capacity to accomplish.
The AP produced a report that is completely at odds with the facts. This was not merely a shading, but an outright false report from a purported "news" supplier, and the reporter (and possibly his editor) should be fired.
AL- I didn’t mock you for being inspired by Obama’s speech. I mocked you for being so overcome by emotion that you declared it to be a “speech for the ages.” That is a very high bar, and you have not given any reason for your belief that the speech might clear it. You haven’t even explained why this speech was better than (or different from) other Obama speeches. As for your statement that the speech was “certainly better than any acceptance speech I've seen in my lifetime,” that is a much more modest claim (sort of like being the tallest building in Wichita). Personally, the only other acceptance speech I can recall is Gore’s “people versus the powerful,” and I am not going to dispute that Obama’s speech was better than that.
There is no doubt that Obama gives a very good speech, regardless of the substance of what he is saying. As was pointed out in an analysis that you may have read the other day, Obama could read the phone book and sound persuasive (it has to do with how our brains are wired to equate melody and logic). This is a significant talent, and I acknowledge it. It is also a good reason for analyzing carefully what he actually says, as there is a natural tendency for people to project whatever they want into the fine-sounding words. That seems to me to be all the AP reporter was trying to do.
If this makes me a cynical curmudgeon, so be it. Being a cynical curmudgeon is not so bad. You should try it.
I notice that your response did not address the various speech-suppressing techniques being used by the Obama campaign. I am hopeful that this reflects your discomfort with those tactics.
I'm an immigrant from Canada, and I ended up here thanks to career choices and also the choices of my parents. When I became a US citizen, it was during the Bush years and I thought of it as an economic transaction, nothing more. I've only lived in this country under Bush. And I have never, ever, not for one day, felt connected to the US. It was a foreign land with foreign ideas and no liberal champions and no one who'd stand up for what we created thirty years ago--the Just Society.
Last night was different. Last night I felt something, I felt like I could actually say I am American (as opposed to just saying I was a US Citizen). Obama made me love this country and believe and hope for its future.
But if the American people chose McCain over this, then damn you all to hell, enjoy the ruin, and I'll watch from the safety of my cold, fractious, boring, uninsipring but still gentle and kind and rational home.
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