The blogoshpere is gushing over the performance of Barack Obama, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate from Illinois. A very abbreviated sampling:
Pandagon – This Man Makes Me Want To Freestyle
He entered this a star, he’s leaving a Clinton.
Oliver Willis – Ob-am-a
Nice. Real nice. The future looks good.
David Scott Anderson – Obama…. Need I say More?
We saw the birth of a political superstar tonight. And honestly I am looking to hear what anyone has to say to criticize what he had to say.
Kevin Drum – OBAMA
…[W]hile a single good speech may not automatically make someone a star, this was a pretty damn good speech, tugging all the right heartstrings and getting deep into the core of the values that liberals hold dear. At this point, political superstardom is his to lose.
The real question is will the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday keynote speakers (Clinton, Obama, and Edwards) over shadow the Thursday night star? Given John Kerry’s propensity to occasionally deliver mind numbingly dull speeches the Kerry camp might want to take a page from the IT profession and develop a really good risk mitigation strategy for that possibility.
Transcript of Barack Obama’s keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention.
Two words: Harold Ford.
Remember him? He gave the keynote in 2000. Where’s he gone?
Oh, I think Mr. Ford is still arround, and I think he too is going to be a star, he is already a commentator or choice on CNN and I have even seen him on Fox.
Ford made a run to be Dem Leader in the House, and is a regular on tv. Its only a matter of time before he makes a run to the Senate as well.
Going to paste a copy of the very same comments I left on “In Search of Utopia”:
I must be the only person not “gushing” — I realize what a talented speaker and intelligent person Obama is, not faulting him on those levels, however, yes, faulting him to a degree because that’s his appeal: he’s a talented, motivational speaker, same reasons that Howard Dean is quite so “gushed” over by many.
But listen to what Obama (and Dean, for that matter) actually say: socialism, limitations to personal freedoms and more, but, oh, how sparkling and appealing they make their visions appear!
People need to stop “gushing” and responding to the cultism of personality and start focusing on what sense or type of sense that someone inspires. Obama inspires hugs and such, but he also has visions of a socialist empire.
If Kerry/Edwards go down in flames, a liberal Democrat’s wet dream for an ’08 ticket: Hillary/Obama.
As a Canadian, I don’t really follow the conventions that much, the race in general, yes, but not the conventions.
With that in mind, reading the Obama hype made me want to see the speach in its entirety. (Reading a transcript is not the same).
After viewing the speech, I must say I was very impressed. Obama shows a passion and a clarity of thought that is very rare in politics today. Yes, I agree with others that Clinton can hold an audience better, but he also has a great deal more experience doing so.
I wish that more people had the ability and passion that Obama showed, in both parties, and I wish that it could be exported to Canada to invigirate our political parties up here.
If this speech is any indication, I will have to agree that Obama’s future is bright indeed.
The best thing that could happen now, is if the voting public would show 1/2 the passion towards the election that he showed. That would make the election a great show of democracy instead of the dark cloud with a few moments of glorious sunshine instead. It is the same here in Canada. All it takes is one person to ignite a flame of passion for it to spread, but it doesn’t happen very often.
BTW, I liked his suit as well. Anyone know if that was off the rack??? 🙂
Sean beat me to it: I was going to say “Harold Ford”
Who?
Pandagon may think he was complimenting Obama, but some of us remember Clinton’s disastrous convention speech back in the 1980s…
Ford is too conservative for most of the Democratic leadership. –s
Obama is a very appealing candidate and I’m sure I’ll vote for him in the fall. But some of the policies he advocates make economists whether Republican or Democrat cringe.
For example, there’s just no way to reconcile his (and Kerry’s) assertion that healthcare is a right with the right of physicans to ever-rising wages.
But, as I say, he’s an appealing candidate and he deserves his moment in the sun.
Ford ran and lost to hard-core liberal Nancy Pelosi. His chance at stardom rest with dropping the Congressional Democrats and running for Tennessee Governor.
While I will not deny that Obama is talented, it amazes me that some have chosen to ignore the fact that he is a only a state senator for Illinois. To have a person of his junior standing speak at convention seems unprecendeted, unless you are a very lily white Kerry campaign trying to find African-American talent to help your position with minorities. It speaks volumes that the Democrats had to dig so deep within the party to find an African-American face that worked for them.
I think the Republicans should have an “African-American Day” at their convention. The whole day should only have African-American speakers like Colin Powell, Condi Rice and J.C. Watts, all of whom carry more weight than Obama does now (although I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of him in the future).