If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.
It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.
We are, and always will be, the United States of America.
It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.
It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.
A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Sen. McCain.
Sen. McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.
I congratulate him; I congratulate Gov. Palin for all that they've achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.
I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.
And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady Michelle Obama.
Sasha and Malia, I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the new White House.
And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.
To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them.
And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe, the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best -- the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.
To my chief strategist David Axelrod who's been a partner with me every step of the way.
To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.
But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.
I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.
It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.
It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.
This is your victory.
And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me.
You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime -- two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.
Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.
There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.
There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.
I promise you, we as a people will get there.
There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem.
But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.
What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.
This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.
It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.
Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.
In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.
Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.
Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.
As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.
And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.
And 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.
To those -- to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.
That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.
When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.
She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.
A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.
And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.
Yes we can.
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.
This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.”
Bruce Springsteen will be performing October 16 at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom, joining Barack Obama, Billy Joel "and friends" for a "Change Rocks" concert to benefit the Obama Victory Fund. Springsteen endorsed Obama back in April; this is his first benefit performance for the campaign. Tickets are available at three donation levels, starting at $500 for a balcony seat. For more information, download this PDF, or click here to purchase tickets online.
"I've spent 35 yrs writing about America, its people, and the meaning of the American Promise. The promise that was handed down to us, right here in this city from our founding fathers, with one instruction: Do your best to make these things real. Opportunity, equality, social and economic justice, a fair shake for all of our citizens, the American idea, as a positive influence, around the world for a more just and peaceful existence.
These are the things that give our lives hope, shape, and meaning. They are the ties that bind us together and give us faith in our contract with one another.
I've spent most of my creative life measuring the distance between that American promise and American reality. For many Americans, who are today losing their jobs, their homes, seeing their retirement funds disappear, who have no healthcare, or who have been abandoned in our inner cities, the distance between that promise, and that reality, has never been greater or more painful.
I believe Senator Obama has taken the measure of that distance in his own life and in his work. I think he understands in his heart the cost of that distance, in blood and suffering, in the lives of everyday Americans. I believe as president, he would work to restore that promise to so many of our fellow citizens who have justifiably lost faith in its meaning.
After the disastrous administration of the past eight years, we need somebody to lead us in an American reclamation project. In my job, I travel around the world, and I occasionally play big stadiums, just like Senator Obama. I've continued to find, whereever I go, that America remains a repository of peoples' hopes, possibilities, and desires, and that despite the terrible erosion to our standing around the world, accomplished by our recent administration, we remain for many, many people this house of dreams. One thousand George Bushes and one thousand Dick Cheneys will never be able to tear that house down.
They will, however, be leaving office -- that's the good news. The bad news is that they'll be leaving office dropping the national tragedies of Katrina, Iraq, and our financial crisis in our laps. Our sacred house of dreams has been abused, it's been looted, and it's been left in a terrible state of disrepair. It needs care; it needs saving, it needs defending against those who would sell it down the river for power or a quick buck. It needs a citizenry with strong arms, hearts, and minds. It needs someone with Senator Obama's understanding, temperateness, deliberativeness, maturity, compassion, toughness, and faith, to help us rebuild our house once again.
But most importantly, it needs you. And me. It needs us, to rebuild our house with the generosity that is at the heart of the American spirit. A house that is truer and big enough to contain the hopes and dreams of all of our fellow citizens. Because that is where our future lies. We will rise or we will fall as a people by our ability to accomplish this task. Now I don't know about you, but I know that I want my house back, I want my America back, and I want my country back.
So now is the time to stand with Barack Obama and Joe Biden, roll up our sleeves, and come on up for the rising."
- Springsteen's speech on Saturday, October 4th before an estimated crowd of 50,000 in Philadelphia, PA
LIke most of you, I've been following the campaign and I have now seen and heard enough to know where I stand. Senator Obama, in my view, is head and shoulders above the rest.
He has the depth, the reflectiveness, and the resilience to be our next President. He speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that's interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit. A place where "...nobody crowds you, and nobody goes it alone."
At the moment, critics have tried to diminish Senator Obama through the exaggeration of certain of his comments and relationships. While these matters are worthy of some discussion, they have been ripped out of the context and fabric of the man's life and vision, so well described in his excellent book, Dreams From My Father, often in order to distract us from discussing the real issues: war and peace, the fight for economic and racial justice, reaffirming our Constitution, and the protection and enhancement of our environment.
After the terrible damage done over the past eight years, a great American reclamation project needs to be undertaken. I believe that Senator Obama is the best candidate to lead that project and to lead us into the 21st Century with a renewed sense of moral purpose and of ourselves as Americans.
Over here on E Street, we're proud to support Obama for President.
Il "cantore della classe operaia" si schiera con Barack Obama. Pochi giorni dopo lo scivolone del senatore dell'Illinois - che aveva definito "frustrati" gli operai che si rifugiano nella religione e nel culto delle armi - Bruce Springsteen ha annunciato pubblicamente di sostenere la candidatura di Obama alla nomination democratica. "Come molti di voi, sto seguendo la campagna e ho visto e sentito abbastanza per capire da che parte stare", si legge in un messaggio rivolto ai fan e diffuso dal rocker sul suo sito ufficiale. "Il senatore Obama, a mio avviso, e' di una spanna sopra gli altri", continua, "parla all'America che ho ritratto nelle mie canzoni negli scorsi 35 anni, una nazione generosa con cittadini che vogliono affrontare problemi sfumati e complessi". "Al momento", si legge, "i critici hanno provato a svilire il senatore Obama amplificando certi suoi commenti". Il 'Boss' poi difende i commenti di Obama sulla classe operaia, sostenendo che le sue parole "sono state estrapolate dal contesto", come spesso accade per "distogliere l'attenzione" dell'opinione del pubblico sui temi veramente importanti: "guerra e pace, la lotta per la giustizia sociale ed economica, il ripristino delle Costituzione, la protezione e il rilancio dell'ambiente". Infine, per Springsteen il senatore afro-americano e' il candidato migliore per guidare il "progetto di redenzione americano" e per riparare al "terribile danno" provocato dagli otto anni di Amministrazione George W. Bush.
By ELIZABETH WURTZEL February 15, 2008 The Wall Street Journal
I've been told that I no longer need to do yoga, take up Pilates, or study Kaballah, and I can even stop listening to Bruce Springsteen. Apparently 45 minutes at a Barack Obama rally -- preceded by two hours and 45 minutes of waiting in the snow outside to get in -- will be all it takes to change my life. Forever. An open mind, a free spirit, a loving heart, a renewed appreciation for democracy -- and possibly even thin thighs -- will be mine for keeps, if I just take in the junior senator from Illinois at a high-school gymnasium in Waukesha or a Nascar track in Pocono or an arena in Dallas. In less time than it takes to get through a single session of psychotherapy, Mr. Obama can cure me.
Meanwhile, back in Hillaryland, all I'm promised is Hillarycare.
Of course, that's not fair. Like most Democrats this time around, I feel embarrassed with the richness of both presidential candidates. The first flush of Obamarama, this latest blush of Clintonism -- either would suit me fine. But it's obvious where the real heat is: If candidates were reading material, Barack Obama would be pornography -- he's got everybody aroused, fired up and ready to go. He's turned on the body politic as no one else has in my lifetime. And it's great fun. It's good for politics, it's good for democracy, it's good for America, it's good for messianism. Young people are excited, old people are nostalgic, middle-aged people are invigorated. People are so enthralled with Mr. Obama just because it's so easy to be enthralled with him.
Which is to say, there's no accounting for charisma. Some people are simply gifted, and the only way to respond is to clear the way and let them do their magic. But this collective cathexis that created Obamamania is obviously a deep desire for authenticity, and he is the natural repository of our hidden hopes.
Mr. Obama is what the future looks like: a biracial child of divorce, schlepped halfway around the world by a conscientious but confounded single mother, abandoned by a wayward but winning Kenyan father, international but somehow still all-American, a party-hardy Harvard Law graduate. That is, an ordinary extraordinary guy, the dreamiest of all our dreams. If only every kid from a broken home could turn out to be such a fine gentleman! How can we not love him? With a million other things he could be doing, Mr. Obama actually wants to lead us. Us? What did we do to deserve him?
That's how lucky Barack Obama makes us feel.
And then there's the whole Hillary Rodham Clinton situation. What can I say? She's been called the anti-Christ, but her problem right now is that she's the anti-Obama.
There is a special kind of hate that people -- particularly women -- reserve for Hillary Clinton that is unique in contemporary politics. It's nothing like the disdain liberals feel for W., which is only to be expected, and has no special edge: Liberals believe President Bush is an undeserving doofus who made a big huge mess, that's that. But the hatred for Hillary Clinton is visceral and venal, a lot of it is female and feminist, and some of it is simply off the charts.
A young woman I respect in northern California describes Hillary as "grotesque." A middle-aged successful artist I know -- herself a bit of a virago -- thinks she's "evil." And my mother, who is admittedly a Republican, is capable of going on and on about how Hillary is in it all for herself, that she'll do anything to win, that she'll kill to push her agenda through, that she's just a disgusting human being, that the sound of Hillary's voice is enough to send her racing for the remote control to turn off her beloved Fox News. The New Republic points out that many Democrats describe Hillary Clinton as "mendacious, brutal, willing to bend (or break) any rule in pursuit of power." And they're on her side.
This special anti-Rodham anger is especially troubling because it's impossible to separate from sex or sexism. Hillary Clinton reminds me that it's possible that all powerful women are, as my friend puts it, "grotesque." They are exaggerated humans, extreme cases, everything to everybody.
Hillary is grotesque because she has gotten to where she is, indeed, by playing it every which way -- by being a career woman when that made sense, a wife when that was advantageous; working on her husband's behalf when that seemed the way to the top, then working for herself when the coast was clear; standing by her husband despite infidelities because she loved him, while belittling Tammy Wynette for offering the very advice she was ostensibly taking; pooh-poohing the prospect of having teas and baking cookies instead of having a profession, and then becoming first lady and having teas as a profession for a full eight years. Yes, Hillary Clinton will do anything, bless her heart: That is how you amass power as a woman. We hate her, because she exposes the sordid business of having it all for the grotesque thing that it actually is.
Might she have played it differently? Of course, it's possible. No one can quite explain how it is that a woman who now campaigns on the virtues of electronic health records and streamlined financial-aid forms once gave the 1969 graduation address at Wellesley College that fantasized about "a more immediate, ecstatic and penetrating mode of living." Once upon a lifetime ago, Hillary Clinton could have been Barack Obama! When did she become a technocrat? How is it that Mr. Obama beat her at her own game?
Obviously, Hillary gave something up by marrying Bill. In their particular partnership, Bill is inspiration, Hillary is perspiration, that's the way it goes. She lost her voice, and no, she did not get it back in Manchester, N.H. on Jan. 10. She's been in the business of enabling charismatic men for so long, Hillary Clinton doesn't quite know how to facilitate anything but power itself.
Still, Hillary has won big states like New York, California, and even Sen. Ted Kennedy's native Massachusetts -- and by large margins. Because, finally, the ladies turn out for her, as they did for that surprise win in the New Hampshire primary.
Pollsters say that women are the most important element of the electorate, and hate her though we do, in the end, we can't help ourselves. We see Hillary, we see Barack, and we see our own version of hell: Here is this amazing woman, top of her class, implausible marriage to impossible man, works as hard as the day is long, masters all the forms and spreadsheets of governing, even manages to raise a pretty darn good kid -- and then along comes this guy, this groovy Obamarama, with his pleasing mien, his high style, his absolute fabulousness, and he wants the top floor, corner office that she earned.
And women -- women have seen this movie, women have heard this story, women know the drill, have had their manicured fingers ready to ring that particular fire alarm for years now. Women, finally, will say no to that. Real women don't care what Caroline Kennedy and Maria Shriver with their easy words and easy lives have to say about any of this. No one with a job takes advice from someone with a chef.
Right now, it looks like Barack Obama will be the nominee. Hillary Clinton is unlikely to win any more primaries for a few more weeks, and at that point, it may be too late for this championship season. But pundits count her out at their own peril. That woman is a force of nature. One of these years, Hillary is going to the White House. If she has to win every single vote one by one, she'll do it. If she has to take hostages, hold a gun to the head of every voter as he enters the booth, she'll do that too. She may even cry.
Never underestimate Hillary Clinton.
Elizabeth Wurtzel, a student at Yale Law School, is the author of "Prozac Nation" (Houghton Mifflin, 1994).
Three years ago, on a bleak November afternoon, John Kerry stood before his closest supporters and made a televised concession speech.The speech itself was unremarkable, overshadowed by the palpable sense of sadness and despair that so many of us shared that day.But as his speech ended, Kerry did something most extraordinary: he stepped forward and, putting his hands into a prayer position in the center of his chest, made a sincere and humble bow of gratitude to those who stood before him.And in that moment he revealed himself to be a person of heart, of courage, and yes, of love.A person whom the American public had never had a chance to see.
That moment stayed with me because I saw in it a profound lesson—that had Senator Kerry believed America was prepared to embrace him in his entirety, as not only a brilliant and visionary man, but also as a person with soul, heart, and graceful compassion, it might have been a very different day.Not one in which it felt the color had been stripped from the world, but one in which we gathered in celebration.That moment has also stayed with me because it was the gesture that emboldened me to write to my friends to tell them that, despite the government we would be living under for the next four years, I believed we all possessed the power to create a community of love and hope.A community that could, despite the dramatic evidence to the contrary, sustain the belief that our political sphere would one day be radically altered by a leader who brought his heart forth into the world of politics.
Why am I so passionate about Obama? Because the moment that I longed for on that miserable day three Novembers ago has arrived.Because, for the first time in a generation, we are being offered the remarkable opportunity to choose a candidate who has the courage to insist that leadership requires both brilliance of mind and bountifulness of heart.Because we have suffered decades (yes, decades) of a politics of cynicism and divisiveness that has made the citizens of this once progressive democracy believe that we can expect from our leaders little more than self-serving hypocrisy. And because the America I know is better than that, deserves better than that, aspires to better than that, and is ready to be empowered to create a government better than that.
Over the last several weeks, I’ve heard it said many times that any Democrat in the White House would be a welcome change, a watershed moment.It is hard to disagree with that.But every time I hear that, I wonder why we would settle for a president who merely possesses liberal political leanings when we are being offered something significantly more profound.Perhaps you will think I am overstating the case, but it seems to me that what this moment holds is not just an opportunity to choose a candidate who can further the Democratic agenda.Instead, we are being offered the chance to select a candidate who will revolutionize our concept of government and the citizenry’s view of how politics can and should work and who can heal the fissures that years and years of a type of politics that pits one group against another, us against them, both in this country and around the world, has brought us.
Lest this get too abstract, let’s take a look at the way the candidates answered the rather loaded question posed about immigration in Thursday’s debate, because I think it is extremely telling about the choice we are being offered.The question, which was posed by someone who had posted online, was as follows: “There's been no acknowledgement by any of the presidential candidates of the negative economic impact of immigration on the African-American community. How do you propose to address the high unemployment rates and the declining wages in the African-American community that are related to the flood of immigrant labor?”Obama was asked to answer first.It was, of course, a terrible question, one that contained the assumption that immigrants were the cause of economic injustice suffered by African-Americans, and one that suggested that the questioner was looking for the candidates to take a harsh stance on “immigrant labor” to show that they cared about African-Americans.Obama’s response was: “[T]o suggest somehow that the problem that we're seeing in inner-city unemployment, for example, is attributable to immigrants, I think, is a case of scapegoating that I do not believe in, I do not subscribe to.”Clinton, on the other hand, responded: “You know, I was in Atlanta last night, and an African-American man said to me, ‘I used to have a lot of construction jobs, and now it just seems like the only people who get them anymore are people who are here without documentation.’ So, I know that what we have to do is to bring our country together to have a comprehensive immigration reform solution.”Why is this so significant to me? Because what Obama was saying was, despite the fact that I probably need this questioner’s vote, I can’t adopt the assumption here; this person has it wrong, we don’t have to see the world in such stark and miserly terms, the table is big enough for everyone, the pie has enough slices to go around, I will not stand for a politics that pits people against each other instead of encouraging them to join together to address root inequalities. And what Clinton was doing was using tried and true tactics of fear: fear of the other, fear that there’s not enough for everyone, fear that someone will be shut out in the cold.
There can be no doubt that Hillary is brilliant, accomplished, a gifted speaker, even a warrior.I do not mean to belittle her or to suggest her gifts are not remarkable.Yet Barack has something more, something larger.I think it is a huge mistake to discount the potential he holds to inspire.Not just to make us feel uplifted and hopeful.Something much deeper.I truly believe that he has the power to engage our citizenry on a level we are not accustomed to, that he can change the way we think about how government can move our country, and can change the way we think about each other. At the risk of sounding clichéd, he is the leader that will finally inspire people to seriously ask themselves the question: what can I do for my country?And I think the answer he can push us to is so much more than we have been capable of in the past, that he can help us understand that we can work together to eradicate inequalities, dismantle racism, and construct an international community based on mutual respect and not irrational suspicions.
I am concerned that Clinton is incapable of transcending the cautious and divisive brand of politics that is the only type I have known for my entire life.The idea that she is a woman’s candidate, or even more, a feminist candidate, is incomprehensible to me.I do not buy such an essentialist concept of feminism.In fact, I see Barack as the true feminist candidate, and he recalls for me the first wave of feminists who saw all forms of oppression and inequality as inextricably linked and only susceptible to eradication if addressed simultaneously.Clinton, on the other hand, appears to me to be a person so concerned with being seen as weak, or emotional or, heaven forbid, female, that she takes stances that I do not believe comport with what is in her heart.Most unforgivably from my perspective, was her vote to authorize force in Iraq on the basis of shoddy intelligence while we were in the midst of another incomplete and disastrous war in Afghanistan, and her shocking vote against the amendment that would have required further diplomatic efforts prior to allowing President Bush to launch a military operation in Iraq.
I suspect so many of us sense Obama’s potential for transformation, feel impassioned and excited by the possibilities that he offers, and yet, are so accustomed to a political sphere that has no place for such a conception of leadership, that we fear it cannot be possible.I resist this.Many questions have been raised in the course of this election about experience.I think the subtext of such questions is the notion that Obama cannot possibly succeed with his agenda because reality will intrude to beat him down.I resist this too.I do not think that we can afford to give this cynicism a voice any longer.I think the time has come to say I will elect the person who can most radically transform this country into the society I know it is capable of becoming.To say I believe in a different conception of government.To say I will no longer accept a politics based on fear. And to say that I know this change will happen because I will be working to make it happen too.
Sen. Barack Obama waves as he campaigns with actor Robert DeNiro at rally in East Rutherford, N.J., Monday, Feb. 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Mike Derer)
by John McCormick
East Rutherford, New Jersey – With the team's home stadium nearby, Sen. Barack Obama today compared himself to the New York Giants in last night's Super Bowl.
"Sometimes the underdog pulls it out. You can't always believe the pundits and prognosticators," Obama told those inside the IZOD Center at the Meadowlands during what was one of his flatter recent appearances.
It was a line Obama's top strategist, David Axelrod, had already tried out on a few reporters early this morning before the campaign plane took off from Chicago's Midway Airport.
In the audience here were former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, who has endorsed Obama, and movie star Robert De Niro, a new endorser and someone the candidate said was of special interest to his Secret Service entourage.
"Those guys never smile. They're always cool," Obama told a crowd his campaign said totaled about 4,500. "But I noticed when De Niro walks in, they're all like elbowing each other…They were excited."
Speaking to the audience before Obama entered the room, De Niro said he is not used to giving political speeches.
"I've never made a speech like this at a political event before," he said, interrupted by applause. "So, what am I doing here? I'm here because finally one person has inspired me. One person has given me hope. One person has made me believe that we can make a change."
Obama also mentioned last night's game when he introduced Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, who is spending the day campaigning at Obama's side in New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts.
"I have said repeatedly that this campaign is about bringing people together," said Obama, who had been pulling for the Patriots. "And for me to be able to bring a Patriots fan to the Meadowlands, the day after the Super Bowl, is like bringing the lion and the lamb together. We bridge all gaps and all divisions in this country."
The Liberal Lion seemed to be enjoying himself on the campaign trail. "Are you glad to see me?" Kennedy asked, as he started his Obama introduction.
"I have some good news for you. You want to hear it?" Kennedy continued. "One year from today, George Bush will not be president of the United States."
Joined by Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, the elder statesman of the Democrat Party told those gathered in the huge arena that many would be watching how New Jersey votes on Super Tuesday.
"The eyes of the nation are going to be on New Jersey and a few other states," he said, after calling Tuesday "perhaps one of the most important moments of your life."
Obama, who feeds off an audience's energy, seemed less fiery than normal. It may have had something to do with how the arena was configured, with him looking into rows of empty seats so that the cameras were positioned to show a crowd.
Or, perhaps the rigors of the campaigning before Super Tuesday are finally getting to him.
In a taped CBS interview broadcast this morning, Obama seemed a touch confused about his age.
"I'm older than I look. It's these big ears," he said, according to a transcript of the interview yesterday. "I'm 40...I'll be…I'm 46. I'll be 47 in August by the time I'm sworn in. So, older than Bill Clinton was when he was first elected."
Posted by John McCormick on February 4, 2008 2:21 PMwww.baltimoresun.com
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