Procrastinet

Obama-rama

filed under: Hey, What's The Big Idea

One of the great political moments of my lifetime happened last night. The networks weren't broadcasting it - a couple hours here and there is all they can manage for the convention. Only the political junkies I know were actually tuned in to PBS, or C-SPAN, or wherever.

Last night we met Barack Obama.

I've reacted positively to Democratic candidates before. In 1992, I saw Bill Clinton and, as a junior in college, thought "hey I like this guy. This guy could win. This guy makes me, passively and at a distance, give something that resembles a shit about politics."

I have never, ever, ever seen a political speech like Obama's keynote last night.

For once, I wasn't just thinking "well, finally, a Democrat who I can watch without cringing." I wasn't just thinking "this person might actually fail to turn people off." I wasn't just thinking "this guy could win." I wasn't even thinking "this guy makes me proud to be a Democrat," though I stopped there along the way.

I was thinking "this guy makes me proud to be an American." And I didn't realize how badly I missed that feeling until I got it back.

If you didn't see Obama last night, read his speech here. It's an incredibly good speech, even divorced from the speaking style that made it such an incredible event.

Even better, the Kerry/Edwards campaign website, wisely, has put up video of the whole speech. Look for the camera icon that says "Keynote: Barack Obama (WindowsMedia)." Go watch it, go watch it, go watch it. Go watch it.

The speech was a long, slow burn, so I'm not sure it'll fully translate on the page. Here's the last big chunk - I wanted to pick just a paragraph or two, but then I'd see another that I didn't want to leave out:

John Kerry believes in America. And he knows it's not enough for just some of us to prosper. For alongside our famous individualism, there's another ingredient in the American saga.

A belief that we are connected as one people. If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for her prescription and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandmother. If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It's that fundamental belief-I am my brother's keeper, I am my sisters' keeper-that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family. "E pluribus unum." Out of many, one.

Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America-there's the United States of America.

There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States.

There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

In the end, that's what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or a politics of hope? John Kerry calls on us to hope. John Edwards calls on us to hope. I'm not talking about blind optimism here-the almost willful ignorance that thinks unemployment will go away if we just don't talk about it, or the health care crisis will solve itself if we just ignore it. No, I'm talking about something more substantial. It's the hope of slaves sitting around a fire singing freedom songs; the hope of immigrants setting out for distant shores; the hope of a young naval lieutenant bravely patrolling the Mekong Delta; the hope of a millworker's son who dares to defy the odds; the hope of a skinny kid with a funny name who believes that America has a place for him, too. The audacity of hope!

In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation; the belief in things not seen; the belief that there are better days ahead. I believe we can give our middle class relief and provide working families with a road to opportunity. I believe we can provide jobs to the jobless, homes to the homeless, and reclaim young people in cities across America from violence and despair. I believe that as we stand on the crossroads of history, we can make the right choices, and meet the challenges that face us. America!

Tonight, if you feel the same energy I do, the same urgency I do, the same passion I do, the same hopefulness I do-if we do what we must do, then I have no doubt that all across the country, from Florida to Oregon, from Washington to Maine, the people will rise up in November, and John Kerry will be sworn in as president, and John Edwards will be sworn in as vice president, and this country will reclaim its promise, and out of this long political darkness a brighter day will come. Thank you and God bless you.

Phew.

Gimme a minute.

Okay, I'm all right.

Here's a roundup of what people are saying about the speech:

Amy Sullivan at Washington Monthly.

Kevin Drum at Washington Monthly, getting beat up by his readership for not being effusive enough (people are ready to man the barricades for this guy).

Markos Zuniga at Daily Kos.

Kos talking about the conservative response to Obama - he was so untouchable, they're trying to say he's not a Democrat but a closet Republican.

Atrios at Eschaton.

Jesse and Ezra at Pandagon going completely worshipfully apeshit.

To cast the commentary net wider than the usual suspects, here are some comments I found using Technorati:

Corner of Babble.

Paradox1x.

The Faggy Rundown at Fagistan (ha!).

Prometheus 6.

I could go on and on. You get the point. People are stoked. Jump on the Obamawagon - this guy is the real deal.

Posted by rjt at July 28, 2004 10:23 AM