오바마! Obama!

Oh, yeeeeah! Obama not just in da house...in da WHITE House, boieee!

Listen to that speech. You heard anything like that since Kennedy? Hilary? Pshaw. Huckawhat? Hehe. Give a warm greeting to the next President of the United States. Now, we can bring America back from the clutches of the thugs and imbeciles and give the world a reason to say good things about America again.

Personally, I'd like to stop being a cynic and get on board something, and for the first time in nearly eight years, I see a light at the end of the tunnel. To the same extent that I can't even look at the TV without wanting to break it when Bush is on, every time I see Obama, I want to cheer.

America just might be headed back on track again.

I feel like a fog is lifting, I really do.

O-ba-ma!

The speech, with my highlights of examples of how speeches should be done:

Thank you, Iowa.

You know, they said this day would never come.

They said our sights were set too high.

They said this country was too divided; too disillusioned to ever come together around a common purpose.

But on this January night - at this defining moment in history - you have done what the cynics said we couldn't do. You have done what the state of New Hampshire can do in five days. You have done what America can do in this New Year, 2008. In lines that stretched around schools and churches; in small towns and big cities; you came together as Democrats, Republicans and Independents to stand up and say that we are one nation; we are one people; and our time for change has come.

You said the time has come to move beyond the bitterness and pettiness and anger that's consumed Washington; to end the political strategy that's been all about division and instead make it about addition - to build a coalition for change that stretches through Red States and Blue States. Because that's how we'll win in November, and that's how we'll finally meet the challenges that we face as a nation.

We are choosing hope over fear. We're choosing unity over division, and sending a powerful message that change is coming to America.

You said the time has come to tell the lobbyists who think their money and their influence speak louder than our voices that they don't own this government, we do; and we are here to take it back.

The time has come for a President who will be honest about the choices and the challenges we face; who will listen to you and learn from you even when we disagree; who won't just tell you what you want to hear, but what you need to know. And in New Hampshire, if you give me the same chance that Iowa did tonight, I will be that president for America.

Thank you.

I'll be a President who finally makes health care affordable and available to every single American the same way I expanded health care in Illinois - by--by bringing Democrats and Republicans together to get the job done.

I'll be a President who ends the tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs overseas and put a middle-class tax cut into the pockets of the working Americans who deserve it.

I'll be a President who harnesses the ingenuity of farmers and scientists and entrepreneurs to free this nation from the tyranny of oil once and for all.

And I'll be a President who ends this war in Iraq and finally brings our troops home; who restores our moral standing; who understands that 9/11 is not a way to scare up votes, but a challenge that should unite America and the world against the common threats of the twenty-first century; common threats of terrorism and nuclear weapons; climate change and poverty; genocide and disease.

Tonight, we are one step closer to that vision of America because of what you did here in Iowa. And so I'd especially like to thank the organizers and the precinct captains; the volunteers and the staff who made this all possible.

And while I'm at it, on "thank yous," I think it makes sense for me to thank the love of my life, the rock of the Obama family, the closer on the campaign trail; give it up for Michelle Obama.

I know you didn't do this for me. You did this-you did this because you believed so deeply in the most American of ideas - that in the face of impossible odds, people who love this country can change it.

I know this-I know this because while I may be standing here tonight, I'll never forget that my journey began on the streets of Chicago doing what so many of you have done for this campaign and all the campaigns here in Iowa - organizing, and working, and fighting to make people's lives just a little bit better.

I know how hard it is. It comes with little sleep, little pay, and a lot of sacrifice. There are days of disappointment, but sometimes, just sometimes, there are nights like this - a night-a night that, years from now, when we've made the changes we believe in; when more families can afford to see a doctor; when our children-when Malia and Sasha and your children-inherit a planet that's a little cleaner and safer; when the world sees America differently, and America sees itself as a nation less divided and more united; you'll be able to look back with pride and say that this was the moment when it all began.

This was the moment when the improbable beat what Washington always said was inevitable.

This was the moment when we tore down barriers that have divided us for too long - when we rallied people of all parties and ages to a common cause; when we finally gave Americans who'd never participated in politics a reason to stand up and to do so.

This was the moment when we finally beat back the politics of fear, and doubt, and cynicism; the politics where we tear each other down instead of lifting this country up. This was the moment.

Years from now, you'll look back and you'll say that this was the moment - this was the place - where America remembered what it means to hope.

For many months, we've been teased, even derided for talking about hope.

But we always knew that hope is not blind optimism. It's not ignoring the enormity of the task ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. It's not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it.

Hope is what I saw in the eyes of the young woman in Cedar Rapids who works the night shift after a full day of college and still can't afford health care for a sister who's ill; a young woman who still believes that this country will give her the chance to live out her dreams.

Hope is what I heard in the voice of the New Hampshire woman who told me that she hasn't been able to breathe since her nephew left for Iraq; who still goes to bed each night praying for his safe return.

Hope is what led a band of colonists to rise up against an empire; what led the greatest of generations to free a continent and heal a nation; what led young women and young men to sit at lunch counters and brave fire hoses and march through Selma and Montgomery for freedom's cause.

Hope-hope-is what led me here today - with a father from Kenya; a mother from Kansas; and a story that could only happen in the United States of America. Hope is the bedrock of this nation; the belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us; by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is; who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.

That is what we started here in Iowa, and that is the message we can now carry to New Hampshire and beyond; the same message we had when we were up and when we were down; the one that can change this country brick by brick, block by block, calloused hand by calloused hand - that together, ordinary people can do extraordinary things; because we are not a collection of Red States and Blue States, we are the United States of America; and at this moment, in this election, we are ready to believe again. Thank you, Iowa.

Damn, that's good stuff.

Obama, '08!

Comments

[Lana]

I hope Obama gets in there, but I just don't have faith in the ones who run the whole show. Look at what happened with Bush's elections. As far as I'm concerned, he stole the office both times. I'm sure they'll be some funny business involved, because a lot of white men are just not comfortable having a black man in the top position. I want to have hope...but I know where I live, too.

[Kimberly]

This guy's got a great speech writer. When I first heard this speech I felt the spirit of MLK invoked for it. Seriously- the style and tenor of this speech brought out I Have A Dream. He didn't have the time to build it up nearly as much, but I'm really looking forward to his victory speech in November (and hoping for it).

[jandkshiday]

Obama's win in Iowa gives me hope. The keyword there is "hope." Hope is also what Mike Huckabee represents. Personally I wouldn't vote for Mike Huckabee given that there will be democrat in the race, but if you wiegh all of the republicans together, he is the one who consistantly presses the message of hope for building a better America for the poor an middle classes. A stark contrast to Romney who promises that terror suspects will be subjected to any "enhanced interrogation techniques" at his disposal, or McCain whose spine ebbs and flows to the whims of the Bush administration after the Bush and Rove team implied that he was gay and had illegitimate black children. Even the web sensation Ron Paul throws some caution into the wind when he says that he wants to axe our "socialist" programs like the department of education, the fda, and well pretty much any other government organization that isn't the military.

Thankfully America seems to have outgrown the unreasoned statments of the neoconservatives, who have done a beautiful job of taking initiative in whatever discourse that they are engaged in, and emit "diciplined messages," created by marketing gurus to win debates by apealing to the emotional responses in people. During the 2000 Bush/Gore race, one of Bush's messages was to restore pride in America through ushering in a time when people would no longer have a "If it feels good do it," mentality which was an indirect assault on the personal behaviours of president Clinton. This doesn't discount the fact that Bush has taken that same attitude in about 90% of his presidency. Invading Iraq felt good, despite the UN weapons inspectors saying that there were no weapons of mass destruction. It felt good to hire "Browny" the Fema coordinator who thought that it would feel good to finish his dinner after finding out that many peoples' dinners in New Orleans were getting washed out to sea as people watched from their rooftops. It also probably felt good to ease the regulations on lending practices so that many could make a quick buck with the appearence that the economy was doing good. Oh yeah and Bush has spent an uncomfortable percentage of his presidency on vaction. Oh and I forgot the vice president shot someone in the face.

Before I get caried away with the "Oh yeahs," I would like to draw the conclusion that to the international comunity, Bushes many blunders and fear mongering is much more embarassing to me than any amount of semen on Monica Lewinski's dress. The brand of conservatism embodied by the neocons in Bush's league keeps people in a constant state of distress. Distress about their jobs, low wages, wheather or not they can keep their houses, or if they will go broke by simply going to the doctor.

So when Obama talks about having the audacity to hope, this is obviously a message that resonates with people. Unfortunatly I have lived in Bush's America for the majority of his term and I am fearful for Obama. If he becomes president I feel that he is destined for greatness. He embodies the youthful charisma that both Bobby and John F. Kenedy had. He is also a Senator from Illinois, much like our nation's greatest president, Lincoln. So if he becomes the democratic nominee for president, I will not hesitate to vote for him. To vote for the hope of our country. For the hope that a black president can unite the country behind the singular cause of elevating the country to worldwide respect beyond what Bush has lost through his lack of vision. I mean for crying out loud our America is huge, Americans are the 3rd most productive workers in the world, but we have 1,000,000 in prison, many without jobs, millions without health insurance, and millions with jobs making between minimum and some other sh!t wage. Hope is what can help people pull them up by their bootstraps, not some photo opp with the president for national news after you lost your house to the gulf of Mexico. I'm cynical though, people who preach hope, John and Bobby Kenedy, Lincoln, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Benziar Bhutto, all get killed in the end. Hope is worth dying for though, its much better to live for.

[mytwowonsworth]

I see Obama's run as a sign of hope, but in a slightly different way. It's a sign that America is finally (at least white america) has moved beyond race. Booby Jindal being elected in Louisiana gave me similar hope.

However, I'm afraid I see Obama as an amazingly talented, amazingly intelligent, and amazingly ambitious demagogue.

All this talk of uniting America.....what does that mean? Pulling out troops asap and leave the Iraqis to the whims of the terrorists?

And frankly, I find Obama's use of race slightly disturbing. His wife claims black Americans will "come around" and he invokes his deadbeat father as proof of his blackness. In fact, all of his American ancestors are white and he wisely "chose" blackness. He knew what he was doing when he moved to the south side of Chicago (Illinois had already elected a black Senator). He is a very very savvy operator.