Filed under: BlackSpin, Elections, Barack Obama, News The effect Barack Obama's victory Tuesday had on the world was profound and immediate. His father's country of Kenya has called a national holiday and you could probably hear the unified celebration as far as outer space. Not since the end of World War II have so many people on our planet been overjoyed in simultaneous celebration. The rousing reaction is not just a reflection of how citizens of the world view the United States, but a reflection of how we NOW look at ourselves. Obama was right all along. This election was about us, Americans, not him. ... ... We have elected a different man to the highest office in our land, someone who has inspired hope, energy, unity and optimism in these most difficult times. "Your election raises great hopes in France, Europe and the rest of the world." -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "I have just sent my warmest congratulations to Sen. Obama." -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Until recently, the position of U.S. President has been the most respected in global politics for generations. We restored that respect this week, but not entirely. Not unlike dejected McCain supporters here at home, there are Obama skeptics from Spain to Syria as well. While newspapers and TV stations around the world were mostly positive, in Syria and other newspapers in the Middle East have firmly stated that there's no difference between Obama, Bush or McCain. In the elegant fashion we expect from our 44th President, Obama had this to tell citizens of the world in his acceptance speech: To all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. Obama also put our enemies on notice. To those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

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"Let there be no doubt, my friends, we're going to win this election," McCain says.

Wasilla swelled with pride as they watched Gov. Palin's acceptance speech. See also: Media swoons

Filed under: BlackSpin, Elections, Barack Obama, John McCain, News

"Red Meat" is a term political insiders use to describe a speech intended primarily to fire up a party's already committed supporters. Republican Vice-Presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, served up the "red meat" bloody and in big slabs during her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention. She started off straightforward enough:

I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America.

I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election... against confident opponents ... at a crucial hour for our country.

And I accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much harder missions ... and met far graver challenges ... and knows how tough fights are won - the next president of the United States, John S. McCain.

But Sarah Palin soon slipped into partisan political theater with attacks on Barack Obama's integrity, record of achievement, readiness for the position of Commander-in-Chief using divisive zingers written by President Bush's former speechwriters.

This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word "victory" except when he's talking about his own campaign. But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed ... when the roar of the crowd fades away ... when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot - what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet?
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My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of "personal discovery." This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn't just need an organizer.

Noticeably absent was any specific declaration of Palin's views on the environment, Palin's views on healthcare reform or Palin's views of how exactly we should define and measure victory in Iraq. Not a peep. Read the speech for yourself. You won't find a word about that.

And it's funny. I always think of our founding fathers as "community organizers" in the purest, proudest sense of the words. If not for those men, organizing their community, the 13 not yet colonies could not have found their way to stand up and fight against British tyranny.

Republicans can't have it both ways. Either you value individual citizens getting involved in fixing problems and accelerating positive change or you don't. Sarah Palin's divisive speech is exactly why Cindy McCain's entreaty to "put on our American hats" on Monday night rang so hollow.

 

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Two leading black scholars say that Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention last Thursday didn't accomplish what he needed to do.

President Bush is unlikely to make it to RNC and John McCain may deliver his acceptance speech by satellite. See also: Obama on Gustav

At times in Obama's acceptance speech on the final night of the DNC, poetry and prose diverged.

The Obama campaign releases an ad echoing the line from his acceptance speech that  "McCain doesn’t get it.”

Just 12 hours after he delivered his acceptance speech, Barack Obama was no longer the story.

Filed under: BlackSpin, Elections, Barack Obama

On this day, the 45th anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic "I Have a Dream" speech, Barack Obama assured his place in history as the first African American presidential nominee of a major political party.

Obama's acceptance speech was delivered at Mile High Stadium. The doors were thrown open seven hours before he was scheduled to appear. The lines snaked for blocks, across railroad tracks and under a bridge. After a 45-minute wait for the light rail, it took me nearly an hour to get into the stadium.


The neoclassical stage at the 50-yard line stood out like a holding penalty. To me, it evoked the Lincoln Memorial. For some, the stage resembled an ancient Greek temple.

The atmosphere was more like a rock concert than a national political convention. To while away the time, Obama supporters did the wave, text-messaged and enjoyed performances by will.i.am, John Legend, Sheryl Crow, Michael McDonald and Stevie Wonder who sang "Signed, Sealed, Delivered."

Rep. John Lewis led a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. At an earlier commemoration, Lewis recounted:

Dr. King said that he has a dream that's deeply rooted in the American Dream. We're here in Denver making a down payment on that dream.

Indeed, Obama took the stage and stepped into the history books:

With profound gratitude and great humility, I accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States.

Obama's speech was entitled "The American Promise." Like Dr. King 45 years ago, he appealed to the better angels of our nature:

America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this.

Obama offered the hope of a new "promissory note":

We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage, whether you can put a little extra money away at the end of each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college diploma.

We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was President - when the average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of go down $2,000, like it has under George Bush.

There was never any doubt that Obama would give a good speech. His supporters left Invesco Field "fired up, ready to go!" But as I sat in the stadium, I wondered whether undecided voters who were watching were turned off by the spectacle of 85,000 foot-stomping supporters chanting, "Yes, we can."

Obama's convention bounce will measure whether his acceptance speech was good enough to convince undecided voters that he shares their values and is ready to lead.

 

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Filed under: BlackSpin, Elections, Barack Obama

Sometimes I swear the media is like a hungry dog following the scent of a blood rare steak. They seem to gulp down anything that's fed to them by the Republican spin machine. It started yesterday with failed Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani yammering on about Obama putting up "Roman Columns." Yes, you guessed it. Giuliani and the anchors laughed about "Obama as Ceasar" calling the Mile High Stadium set the "Temple of Doom." Funny, but so dumb. Every Federal building with any gravitas (and many without it) sport those columns. I'm born and bred in Washington, DC. I know this.

So where was all this chattering when George Bush had exactly the same kind of columns as a backdrop for his 2004 acceptance speech?

See for yourself:I know the right has pegged Obama with the "aloof" "Messiah" tag, but that does not mean he has to respond to it. Those are not his voters anyway.

I can't control what you call me, but I can control what I answer to.

 

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Filed under: BlackSpin, Elections, Barack Obama

DENVER -- Marc Mitchell didn't know much about Barack Obama's Vice Presidential pick until just before Joe Biden took the podium at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night.

Like most Obama supporters tuning in, Biden's moving introduction from his son, Beau, provided important context for the senator from Delaware.

Biden lost his wife and daughter in a car crash not long before being sworn into the senate in 1972. He made his kids breakfast as a single father.

We learned he was not always a polished well-spoken senator. Biden had a terrible stutter when he was young.

He wears a politicians suit, but he's a blue collar man at heart and takes long train rides to work everyday.

"He's a great complement to Barack Obama. That's what I felt tonight," Mitchell said after Biden's speech. "These are the two most real politicians I've ever seen." ...
And as a member of the New York Finance Committee for Obama's campaign, Mitchell has held private fundraisers at his house and had a chance to meet the Illinois senator.

"He's a real dude," says the New York attorney, who's also been blogging a little while at the convention this week. "I can't imagine a better team."

The Obama-Biden team was solidified with Biden's powerful acceptance speech as the Vice Presidential candidate.

As former President Bill Clinton put it in his speech earlier in the evening, Obama's VP selection was a home run. "He hit it out of the park,