Best Barack Moment?
Posted by: prehistoric rocket science on: October 17, 2008
These past twenty or so months have been chock full of peaks and valleys. We are now only a couple of weeks away from reaching the mountaintop. So, I’ve been reflecting a little about how we’ve gotten to this point. What’s stuck out in my mind?
I realize we could go all the way back to Barack’s opposition to the invasion of Iraq: Wrong time, wrong place… Or, his 2004 Keynote speech: We’re not a nation of red states and blue states, but the UNITED States… But, even if we begin with the start of this campaign, we’ve had a ton of wonderful memories.
Stirring victory speeches. Electric debate exchanges. Barack’s historical speech on faith in America. His Berlin Address. The most powerful Acceptance Speech in American history.
For me, it’s Barack’s mantra, “WE are the change we seek.” But I have to tell you, after seven years of being regarded as unpatriotic for disagreeing with the policies of Bush, and staring at more of the same from McCain’s “Country First” nonsense, a close second was when Barack stood tall in Denver and proclaimed, “I’ve got news for you, John McCain, we ALL put country first!”
When Barack gives his victory speech on November 4, I know I’ll be shedding tears of joy; but so far, what’s been your favorite moment?
9 Responses to "Best Barack Moment?"
October 19, 2008 at 2:30 pm
i agree renaissanceguy
my favorite moment? that’s a tough one. right now i would have to go with the national press club announcement with Paul, Nader, McKinney, and Baldwin. Or maybe Nader, Paul, and Blitzer (on the same day i think?)
there are a lot. but the NPClub was historic.
October 19, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Ronald Reagan gave great speeches and was dubbed the Great Communicator. Barack Obama is held to a different standard. (Denial, not just a river in Egypt).
The best Barack moment for me and my family was in Selma, Alabama on the anniversary of Bloody Sunday in March 2007. It really was a moving experience for us. Senator Obama was moving into position for the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. I had my 10-year-old son on my shoulder yelling “Obama! Obama!” trying to get the senator’s attention, and a woman next to us burst into tears. She told us she was a history teacher and she never thought she’d ever see the day where a little white boy would be cheering on a black man for the President of the United States of America.
My oldest son did a report on it, and I blogged about it here with images from that day:
http://writechic.wordpress.com/2007/08/20/going-the-distance/
Dismissive remarks about Barack Obama as just a guy who gives good speeches REALLY miss the point. He knows his country…its history, its constitution and laws, he loves his country and its story…his better speeches weave together a narrative about America that inspires.
Notice it wasn’t a Barack Obama speech that gave me my best Barack moment, it was the African-American history teacher that wept when she saw a little white boy cheering on a black presidential candidate, not for the color of his skin but for the content of his character.
And the content of his character is a sufficient reason for my vote.
October 19, 2008 at 4:26 pm
That was a great post, and I guess it kind of sums up the transformational quality Obama brings. A quality our nation sorely needs.
6 | Obama: a Great Communicator plus « WriteChic Press
October 19, 2008 at 4:44 pm
[...] Dancing with Fire asks what the best Barack moment has been. Immediately I thought of the impressive gathering at the St. Louis Arch on Saturday. Rousing 100,000 Americans from the comfort of their homes normally takes something like a Penn State game. But a politician talking about the economy? [...]
October 19, 2008 at 4:59 pm
“And the content of his character is a sufficient reason for my vote.”
the problem is that it’s policy that drives this nations government.
not one man.
October 19, 2008 at 5:48 pm
When President John F. Kennedy welcomed 49 Nobel Prize winners to the White House in 1962 he said, “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent and of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at the White House – with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”
The content of his character includes the humility to know he must surround himself with policy experts.
October 19, 2008 at 6:02 pm
right, when one looks at the people who surround barack obama one finds it is nothing new and does not represent change as mush as a continuation of the same establishment policies.
October 18, 2008 at 8:49 pm
I have observed over and over that people care more about what Obama says and how he says it than what he has actually done (or not done) and what he plans to do.
Admiring great speeches, and his speeches are great, is not sufficient reason to vote for somebody for any office, let alone president.