January 20, 2008 11:22
A Great Speech
Barack Obama at Ebeneezer Baptist Church. Rather than merely linking to it, I thought it would be appropriate to publish every word. I do this in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the greatest moral leader of my lifetime:
The Scripture tells us that when Joshua and the Israelites arrived at the gates of Jericho, they could not enter. The walls of the city were too steep for any one person to climb; too strong to be taken down with brute force. And so they sat for days, unable to pass on through.But God had a plan for his people. He told them to stand together and march together around the city, and on the seventh day he told them that when they heard the sound of the ram’s horn, they should speak with one voice. And at the chosen hour, when the horn sounded and a chorus of voices cried out together, the mighty walls of Jericho came tumbling down.
There are many lessons to take from this passage, just as there are many lessons to take from this day, just as there are many memories that fill the space of this church. As I was thinking about which ones we need to remember at this hour, my mind went back to the very beginning of the modern Civil Rights Era.
Because before Memphis and the mountaintop; before the bridge in Selma and the march on Washington; before Birmingham and the beatings; the fire hoses and the loss of those four little girls; before there was King the icon and his magnificent dream, there was King the young preacher and a people who found themselves suffering under the yolk of oppression.
And on the eve of the bus boycotts in Montgomery, at a time when many were still doubtful about the possibilities of change, a time when those in the black community mistrusted themselves, and at times mistrusted each other, King inspired with words not of anger, but of an urgency that still speaks to us today:
“Unity is the great need of the hour” is what King said. Unity is how we shall overcome.
What Dr. King understood is that if just one person chose to walk instead of ride the bus, those walls of oppression would not be moved. But maybe if a few more walked, the foundation might start to shake. If a few more women were willing to do what Rosa Parks had done, maybe the cracks would start to show. If teenagers took freedom rides from North to South, maybe a few bricks would come loose. Maybe if white folks marched because they had come to understand that their freedom too was at stake in the impending battle, the wall would begin to sway. And if enough Americans were awakened to the injustice; if they joined together, North and South, rich and poor, Christian and Jew, then perhaps that wall would come tumbling down, and justice would flow like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
Unity is the great need of the hour – the great need of this hour. Not because it sounds pleasant or because it makes us feel good, but because it’s the only way we can overcome the essential deficit that exists in this country.
I’m not talking about a budget deficit. I’m not talking about a trade deficit. I’m not talking about a deficit of good ideas or new plans.
I’m talking about a moral deficit. I’m talking about an empathy deficit. I’m taking about an inability to recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we are our brother’s keeper; we are our sister’s keeper; that, in the words of Dr. King, we are all tied together in a single garment of destiny.
We have an empathy deficit when we’re still sending our children down corridors of shame – schools in the forgotten corners of America where the color of your skin still affects the content of your education.
We have a deficit when CEOs are making more in ten minutes than some workers make in ten months; when families lose their homes so that lenders make a profit; when mothers can’t afford a doctor when their children get sick.
We have a deficit in this country when there is Scooter Libby justice for some and Jena justice for others; when our children see nooses hanging from a schoolyard tree today, in the present, in the twenty-first century.
We have a deficit when homeless veterans sleep on the streets of our cities; when innocents are slaughtered in the deserts of Darfur; when young Americans serve tour after tour of duty in a war that should’ve never been authorized and never been waged.
And we have a deficit when it takes a breach in our levees to reveal a breach in our compassion; when it takes a terrible storm to reveal the hungry that God calls on us to feed; the sick He calls on us to care for; the least of these He commands that we treat as our own.
So we have a deficit to close. We have walls – barriers to justice and equality – that must come down. And to do this, we know that unity is the great need of this hour.
Unfortunately, all too often when we talk about unity in this country, we’ve come to believe that it can be purchased on the cheap. We’ve come to believe that racial reconciliation can come easily – that it’s just a matter of a few ignorant people trapped in the prejudices of the past, and that if the demagogues and those who exploit our racial divisions will simply go away, then all our problems would be solved.
All too often, we seek to ignore the profound institutional barriers that stand in the way of ensuring opportunity for all children, or decent jobs for all people, or health care for those who are sick. We long for unity, but are unwilling to pay the price.
But of course, true unity cannot be so easily won. It starts with a change in attitudes – a broadening of our minds, and a broadening of our hearts.
It’s not easy to stand in somebody else’s shoes. It’s not easy to see past our differences. We’ve all encountered this in our own lives. But what makes it even more difficult is that we have a politics in this country that seeks to drive us apart – that puts up walls between us.
We are told that those who differ from us on a few things are different from us on all things; that our problems are the fault of those who don’t think like us or look like us or come from where we do. The welfare queen is taking our tax money. The immigrant is taking our jobs. The believer condemns the non-believer as immoral, and the non-believer chides the believer as intolerant.
For most of this country’s history, we in the African-American community have been at the receiving end of man’s inhumanity to man. And all of us understand intimately the insidious role that race still sometimes plays – on the job, in the schools, in our health care system, and in our criminal justice system.
And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands are entirely clean. If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King’s vision of a beloved community.
We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. The scourge of anti-Semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community. For too long, some of us have seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity.
Every day, our politics fuels and exploits this kind of division across all races and regions; across gender and party. It is played out on television. It is sensationalized by the media. And last week, it even crept into the campaign for President, with charges and counter-charges that served to obscure the issues instead of illuminating the critical choices we face as a nation.
So let us say that on this day of all days, each of us carries with us the task of changing our hearts and minds. The division, the stereotypes, the scape-goating, the ease with which we blame our plight on others – all of this distracts us from the common challenges we face – war and poverty; injustice and inequality. We can no longer afford to build ourselves up by tearing someone else down. We can no longer afford to traffic in lies or fear or hate. It is the poison that we must purge from our politics; the wall that we must tear down before the hour grows too late.
Because if Dr. King could love his jailor; if he could call on the faithful who once sat where you do to forgive those who set dogs and fire hoses upon them, then surely we can look past what divides us in our time, and bind up our wounds, and erase the empathy deficit that exists in our hearts.
But if changing our hearts and minds is the first critical step, we cannot stop there. It is not enough to bemoan the plight of poor children in this country and remain unwilling to push our elected officials to provide the resources to fix our schools. It is not enough to decry the disparities of health care and yet allow the insurance companies and the drug companies to block much-needed reforms. It is not enough for us to abhor the costs of a misguided war, and yet allow ourselves to be driven by a politics of fear that sees the threat of attack as way to scare up votes instead of a call to come together around a common effort.
The Scripture tells us that we are judged not just by word, but by deed. And if we are to truly bring about the unity that is so crucial in this time, we must find it within ourselves to act on what we know; to understand that living up to this country’s ideals and its possibilities will require great effort and resources; sacrifice and stamina.
And that is what is at stake in the great political debate we are having today. The changes that are needed are not just a matter of tinkering at the edges, and they will not come if politicians simply tell us what we want to hear. All of us will be called upon to make some sacrifice. None of us will be exempt from responsibility. We will have to fight to fix our schools, but we will also have to challenge ourselves to be better parents. We will have to confront the biases in our criminal justice system, but we will also have to acknowledge the deep-seated violence that still resides in our own communities and marshal the will to break its grip.
That is how we will bring about the change we seek. That is how Dr. King led this country through the wilderness. He did it with words – words that he spoke not just to the children of slaves, but the children of slave owners. Words that inspired not just black but also white; not just the Christian but the Jew; not just the Southerner but also the Northerner.
He led with words, but he also led with deeds. He also led by example. He led by marching and going to jail and suffering threats and being away from his family. He led by taking a stand against a war, knowing full well that it would diminish his popularity. He led by challenging our economic structures, understanding that it would cause discomfort. Dr. King understood that unity cannot be won on the cheap; that we would have to earn it through great effort and determination.
That is the unity – the hard-earned unity – that we need right now. It is that effort, and that determination, that can transform blind optimism into hope – the hope to imagine, and work for, and fight for what seemed impossible before.
The stories that give me such hope don’t happen in the spotlight. They don’t happen on the presidential stage. They happen in the quiet corners of our lives. They happen in the moments we least expect. Let me give you an example of one of those stories.
There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organizes for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She’s been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and the other day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there.
And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that’s when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.
She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.
She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.
So Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they’re supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who’s been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he’s there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, “I am here because of Ashley.”
By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.
But it is where we begin. It is why the walls in that room began to crack and shake.
And if they can shake in that room, they can shake in Atlanta.
And if they can shake in Atlanta, they can shake in Georgia.
And if they can shake in Georgia, they can shake all across America. And if enough of our voices join together; we can bring those walls tumbling down. The walls of Jericho can finally come tumbling down. That is our hope – but only if we pray together, and work together, and march together.
Brothers and sisters, we cannot walk alone.
In the struggle for peace and justice, we cannot walk alone.
In the struggle for opportunity and equality, we cannot walk alone
In the struggle to heal this nation and repair this world, we cannot walk alone.
So I ask you to walk with me, and march with me, and join your voice with mine, and together we will sing the song that tears down the walls that divide us, and lift up an America that is truly indivisible, with liberty, and justice, for all. May God bless the memory of the great pastor of this church, and may God bless the United States of America.
Reader Comments (54)
Obama shows again why he is America Candidate. The Clintons can only win by injecting race to crowd out his message.
The Clintons do not care about the Democratic party. It is all about them. They never had coattail.
Can someone from the Hillary supporters tell what the Clintons believe in.
Posted by mdiogu | January 20, 2008 12:21 PM
Wow, that is a great speech. When was this?
We are told that those who differ from us on a few things are different from us on all things; that our problems are the fault of those who don’t think like us or look like us or come from where we do. The welfare queen is taking our tax money. The immigrant is taking our jobs. The believer condemns the non-believer as immoral, and the non-believer chides the believer as intolerant.
That's my favorite part, so far.
Posted by Beth in VA | January 20, 2008 12:22 PM
Obama plays the race card, yet again. No surprises, there.
Sigh.
Posted by JoeCHI | January 20, 2008 12:30 PM
JoeCHI:
Where did you get your comments from? The racist is one that sees race in everything. It seems to me that you are the racist. You are the one playing the race card. Have a nice Sunday, if you believe in God, I may add.
Posted by mdiogu | January 20, 2008 12:33 PM
The racist is one that sees race in everything.
oh, you mean like all those Obama supporters who saw "racism" in Hillary's comments about the role played by LBJ in getting the Civil Rights Act passed? Or all those Obama supporters who saw "racism" in Bill Clinton describing the myth of Obama's consistent opposition to the Iraq war as a "fairy tale?"
Posted by mediasux | January 20, 2008 12:40 PM
Wow. What a speech.
This guy is exceptionally good.
I wonder if I will be able to vote for another candidate, if that essentially means I'll be voting against the contents of this speech.
Beautiful.
Posted by stuart_zechman | January 20, 2008 12:43 PM
So tired of phony calls for unity. Politics is a battle of ideas. Obama is calling for unity in the service of nothing.
Posted by Mike M. | January 20, 2008 12:47 PM
I am fierce liberal Democrat but I will not be voting for Hillary Clinton is God Forbids she is the Nominee.
I will rather vote for John McCain than for Hillary Clinton, at least he cares for what he can do for this country. The Clintons only care for what this Country can do for them.
Posted by mdiogu | January 20, 2008 12:50 PM
I am fierce liberal Democrat but I will not be voting for Hillary Clinton is God Forbids she is the Nominee.
I will rather vote for John McCain than for Hillary Clinton, at least he cares for what he can do for this country. The Clintons only care for what this Country can do for them.
Posted by mdiogu |
Fierce Liberal Democrats do not feel the need to label themselves as such.
Posted by flygirl130 | January 20, 2008 12:53 PM
Does anyone else suspect that there is an ongoing, Rove-inspired dirty tricks campaign to create racial tensions in the Democratic party, and animosity between Obama and Clinton supporters?
And that at least a couple of the 'new' commenters here are part of that effort?
Posted by mediasux | January 20, 2008 1:21 PM
Not all people can suspend their cynicism, but I am grateful that Americans of the past, those who wrote our Constitution, had vision and hope to set forth the principles we live on. This speech beautifully taps into simple ideas we share as Americans.
Was a video made, and will it be posted anywhere?
Posted by Iris | January 20, 2008 1:22 PM
This post further confirms that Joe Klein is truly the greatest political reporter of our time. Some other reporters - like someone at a college newspaper or a blogger or something - might actually point out how the speech was wrong. Joe Klein realizes that would be improper. The role of the news media is simply to stand back, write things down, and cheer.
For instance, someone who's not a real reporter like Joe Klein would point to an instance where "immigrants" had taken jobs from Americans, specifically African-American HurricaneVictims. And, the "immigrants" were in fact illegal aliens who various groups had loosely colluded to bring in to take jobs from Americans:
http://katrinacoverage.com/2005/10/08/new-orleans-jobs-and-federal-funding-scandal.html
Always keep this in mind: Obama is truly a great political leader and not just a corrupt hack who gives good speech. And, Joe Klein is completely honest and a top political reporter.
Posted by NoMoreBlatherDotCom
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January 20, 2008 1:43 PM
This is a great speech. It gave me goose bumps. I wish I'd been there to hear it.
Posted by gatster | January 20, 2008 1:49 PM
Indeed a great speech.
Myt favorite line:
We have a deficit in this country when there is Scooter Libby justice for some and Jena justice for others;
Of course, as he said, we are to judged by our actions as well as our words. I still wonder how Obama will respond when the next FISA vote comes up.
Posted by Paul Dirks
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January 20, 2008 1:51 PM
Finally some good editorial judgment from Joe Klein -- a mere excerpt wouldn't do the whole justice.
(Of course, Joe's motive is to equate himself with his fellow Great Man, Dr. King...)
Posted by Steve in Sacto
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January 20, 2008 1:56 PM
1. America is a great place for motivational speakers: soaring feel good rhetoric; great ideas. Dr Phil and Oprah make tons of money off that riff. Question: Where's the beef?
2. Why do commenters feel the need to tell us they will never vote for X or Y. Who cares? You are free to do whatever you want. When you rant you don't help your candidate. You are just showing the world what a limited human being you are. Get out and help your candidate win votes.
Posted by bitterpill8 | January 20, 2008 2:09 PM
I am glad Obama is not shying away from talking about race, but doing it in this way. This is how I think he needs to rise above the types of divisive politics we have seen in the last two weeks and appeal to our better insticnts as the media encourages a food fight based on our worst instincts. This speech reminds me of why I support Obama. Ultimately, much of the power of the presidency rest in the bully pulpit; and in my mind, at least, there is no one who would be more effective in that role.
Posted by RKA
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January 20, 2008 2:17 PM
Indeed - it was a good speech, which I had not seen in full any other place on the net. Mr. Klein deserves lots of kudos for posting the whole thang.
To me, this speech should be juxtaposed with Senator Obama's Joshua Generation speech made at Selma last year. The obligations of the next generation are a consistent theme of his and I think it is a mission for him. Hopefully, others will listen.
Posted by patroclus | January 20, 2008 2:27 PM
Joe, if you are clinging to the "unity" message in this speech, remember that King seeked unity with people with a conscience. People who do not have a conscience and act like they do not, need justice, not unity.
"Forgiving" your adversary can be a tricky business because it often assumes that the people who committed injustice have a conscience, and have therefore reformed themselves and won't do the same things in the future. Hence forgiveness implies a position of true wisdom, strength, and bravery on your part (wise bravery, not foolish bravery). Forgiveness through pure passivity and lack of strength, and lack of principle (it's often easy to forgive misdeeds against someone else when you lack principles) is not what the people who came up with non-violence had in mind.
If you read Dr. King's chief influence, Mahatma Ghandi, his ideas on non-violence are not simple, and involve notions of uncompromising strength and principle on the part of the non-violent (the Thomas Merton book that I linked to is a great introduction to Ghandi's work). Ghandi thought that if would be foolish to use non-violence on people who had no conscience--for instance on Nazi Germany. "Unity" with people without a conscience would have been a parody of Satyagraha for Ghandi.
And if this kind of need for a meaningless unity is what you show to your adversary, you certainly aren't inspiring your potential allies on the other side (your adversaries with a conscience).
That said, this is a moving speech, and it's very possible that Obama knows all this. I hope so, and would look for this before I cast my vote in the primaries.
Posted by J.J.
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January 20, 2008 2:30 PM
Obama represents the best and brightest among us. He has the best chance to unite our country, overcome partisan gridlock, move our county out of the ditch we are stuck in and repair the damage around the world. I am frustrated and distressed by the Karl Rove tactics being used against Obama and I hope more people will step up and support "Hope" and "Change" over "Fear" and "Division."
Posted by Todd Smyth | January 20, 2008 2:41 PM
Obama plays the race card, yet again. No surprises, there.
Sigh.
Posted by JoeCHI | January 20, 2008 12:30 PM
--------------------------------------
I want to ask an honest question. When can an African-American politician discuss race without being accused of playing the race card. There are inequities that exist in the US despite equality of education and income. How can these issues which are centered on race be discussed. Even the American Medical association has an education program directed at physicians to address health care delivery differences that persist despite insurance, income, and education. How can this aspect be discussed if the issue is dismissed as playing the race card?
How can the polling results suggesting a large gap between White voter support for Obama in the South compared to the rest of the country be discussed, without the accusation that the "race card" being played?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/19/obama-faces-white-resista_n_82300.html
Is it possible that the fact that we don't discuss race is responsible for the mis-communications that are common place in MSM?
Posted by rmrd0000 | January 20, 2008 2:49 PM
It reads like a BIN LADEN press release from the Goat Of The Month Club.
= SURRENDER ACCOMPLISHED =
Posted by QUESTION HILLARY
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January 20, 2008 3:17 PM
Andrew Sullivan had the whole speech on his site, too. I got chills reading it. Great words can lead to great actions and I believe that Obama understands this and is not just full of empty rhetoric. He would be the best thing that could happen to this nation in a long time.
Posted by Captain Noble | January 20, 2008 4:15 PM
Excellent, excellent! I, too, want just a little bit more unity in our government. Not mindless unity, but unity on the things that really matter. There has been far too much division and hatred between Republicans and Democrats for the past 14 years. The U.S. is entering into a time during which we will make choices that will have far-reaching consequences. Global warming. The environment as a whole. The rise of China and India. AIDS and other global health problems. All sorts of stuff that could seriously damage our world. Please, let's have some more unity.
Posted by Speaker for the Center | January 20, 2008 4:49 PM
J,J, said:
Joe, if you are clinging to the "unity" message in this speech, remember that King seeked unity with people with a conscience. People who do not have a conscience and act like they do not, need justice, not unity.
Hear, hear!
Posted by Sid Merid | January 20, 2008 5:05 PM
Posted by J.J. | January 20, 2008 2:30 PM:
"Forgiveness through pure passivity and lack of strength, and lack of principle (it's often easy to forgive misdeeds against someone else when you lack principles) is not what the people who came up with non-violence had in mind."
J.J.:
Remarkably well said. I only wish that I could have expressed this thought as well as you just have. Thank you for this.
Posted by stuart_zechman | January 20, 2008 5:16 PM
The rest is a little syntactically strained. But at least I got the beginning part right.
A lot of people don't understand Ghandi. He was not passive. He was very demanding. He also knew his adversary. The British were tough, but they also had a sense of what was just and what was not. Once Ghandi captured British public opinion, it was all over.
Posted by J.J.
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January 20, 2008 5:30 PM
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4162996&page=1
Posted by flygirl130 | January 20, 2008 5:39 PM
JJ - your argument/implication is yet another example of straw man reasoning used against Obama. Of course MLK and Gandhi were not passive. Neither is Obama. Anybody who has come this far this fast in American politics, who has held his own against the dominant machine in democratic politics, can hardly be called passive. Anyone who stood up against Iraw in 2002 can hardly be called passive. Anybody who tells blacks to their face they need to be less homophobic and antisemitic can hardly be called passive.
But feel free to continue to knock down your own false interpretations of what Obama says and stands for and declare victory over the straw man.
Also for some of you to imply that the people King targeted in the 60's had consciences and the people Obama is targeting now don't is silly. King didn't get every last racist to see the light as Obama cannot get every last independent republican to come around to progressivism either....in both cases the goal is a working majority.
Posted by RKA
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January 20, 2008 5:49 PM
As long as calls for "Unity" aren't an abandonment of "Accountability", then I'm all for it.
This means that investigations must proceed unimpeded and forthwith, so that law-breaking telecoms, reckless military privateers, conscienceless Katrina profiteers, domestic spies, agencies of torture and above all justice-obstructing and potentially war criminal Bush administration apparatchiks can be held accountable for their behavior over the last eight years.
"Scooter Libby justice" must become an anachronism, to be replaced by "equal justice under the law" in order for this nation to heal properly.
If this takes "Truth and Reconciliation", so be it. The goal is not simply "a working majority", because we had one of those just prior to the start of the Iraq invasion, and that got us where we are now. A majority in the service of letting the failures and crimes of the past two terms go undiscovered, unreconciled and yes, unprosecuted is not "working" at all. The country has been pushed too far into the lawless, consequence-less void. Things must be set right again.
I will vote for a "Unity with Accountability" candidate if one can be found, but not a "Unity for the sake of Unity" candidate. This government's transformation into a violent, incompetent, indebted reprobate of a step-uncle must not be ignored for the sake of the dinner party guests. There needs to be an immediate intervention, regardless of whether or not the old fool believes he needs to get help and dry out.
What this country needs maybe more than anything is a reckoning with the brutal truth. We need to be able to say what's right or wrong, factual or fabricated, known or believed, and moral or immoral again without the need for political consideration obscuring those differences.
How will we be able to tell our fellow citizens that the war they support is and always was a dreadful mistake that hurt our country, and needlessly killed its children, if that offends our sense of "Unity"? How will we be able to tell our fellow citizens that their Biblical law is Sharia law by another name, if that offends our sense of "Unity"? How will we be able to tell our fellow citizens that the earth is rapidly changing for the worse, if that offends our sense of "Unity"? How will we be able to tell our fellow citizens that their neighbors are their equals, if that offends our sense of "Unity"? How will we be able to tell the emperor that he has no clothes, if that offends our sense of "Unity"?
There is right and wrong, and the unity of both is the unity of neither. A working majority that unites these two is the last thing that our beloved homeland needs for things to get better. Unity must not be at the expense of Accountability. Accountability must be first.
This is the platform that Barack Obama must enunciate in order to help me believe that his vision is possible.
Posted by stuart_zechman | January 20, 2008 6:56 PM
1. Please please learn about Gandhi. MLK was a great man, who learned from Gandhi. January is also the month Gandhi was assasinated.
2. It just does not behoove a professional writer of your stature to have an expression like "suffering under the yolk of oppression." Not even if the text of the speech you reproduced is supplied to you by someone else. Please correct it to "suffering under the YOKE of oppression."
Thank you.
Posted by impolitico | January 20, 2008 8:10 PM
RKA-- My comment was aimed more at Joe than Obama. But it could apply to Obama too. I hope he doesn't expect insurance, energy, or pharmaceutical companies to have consciences. They got where they got by delivering value to shareholders. Despite the glossy reports from their PR departments, their chief interest is to thrive in a competitive environment. When one of the fund managers for my 401k decides what stock to invest in, he or she doesn't decide based on who does the best rendition of Kumbaya.
They base it on who is the most profitable. And profitable companies have crack legal teams, lobbyists, etc. So Obama has to be prepared to play hardball with these people, because they'll surely be ready to play hardball back. If you think these organizations operate based on conscience, you haven't been paying attention to what's happened with health care, climate change, and a whole host of other issues.
Posted by J.J.
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January 20, 2008 9:07 PM
RKA:
Before you point out another "strawman argument" again, you might want to take a moment to consider that perhaps these objections aren't unrelated to Obama's stated positions, even if Obama isn't literally saying that he isn't prepared to face down entities opposed to our interests, because either that's what a unilateral call for "Unity" means, or he's not doing a very good job of spelling out the difference for us.
Maybe it's not a "strawman" if the proposition is wonderfully inspirational and yet vague enough to draw these inferences.
Just something you might want to consider...
Posted by stuart_zechman | January 20, 2008 9:18 PM
They are showing it for the second time today on C-span.
It is listed at the link below as:
"Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), Campaign Event in Atlanta, GA (1/20/2008)"
http://www.c-span.org/
Posted by KRE | January 20, 2008 9:49 PM
Just noticed how this started with reference to "the scripture." That bugs me. What is "the scripture?" There are tons of religious texts that people choose to believe in, or not. None shoudl be "the."
Posted by Mike M. | January 20, 2008 11:03 PM
Another inspiring speech from Sen. Obama, in my humble opinion.
I'm curious about what we know about Obama's speechwriter(s). How much of it is his own work? And who is his "Ted Sorensen"? (Yes, I know that Sorensen has endorsed him.)
Posted by Falcon307 | January 20, 2008 11:08 PM
Look, we all know he can give a speech, okay? But some of us would like a little factual substance. Some of us would like to know what he would actually do and how he'd do it.
This is not enough.
Posted by Grey | January 20, 2008 11:55 PM
Tangerine 3: I agree, Swampland is hardly the setting for a policy speech...No! Wait! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh....
Posted by stuart_zechman | January 21, 2008 12:57 AM
By far one of the most moving and profound speeches I have ever read.
I think anyone who needs convincing of a candidate should read this and a few of his other speeches before making their decision.
Posted by Evan Howard | January 21, 2008 10:47 AM
I am put off by the apathy, hate and negativity by some of the users on this board but it does not dampen the feeling of finally seeing someone I believe in running for President.
Posted by Evan Howard | January 21, 2008 10:50 AM
Anyone who feels the need to comment about the so-called politics behind this speech is completely missing the point. LISTEN to what he is saying. It doesn't matter if he's nominated or not. He's right. We need to unite and to ACT if we are ever going to change this country for the better, no matter who stands up and makes the call to action.
Posted by AverageJane | January 21, 2008 11:48 AM
Yes, but the "post-partisans" have to be realistic about what we're up against.
We aint playing beanbag.
Posted by J.J.
|
January 21, 2008 12:00 PM
@ Tangerine 3:
HILARIOUS QH parody. The sad thing is, it's actually about 50% too comprehensible.
As for the speech, I liked it. It gave me goosebumps. I'm not quite so worried about his policies, because no matter what he'll end up changing his implementation if he gets elected. It's just nice to be inspired for once.
Posted by Cliff | January 21, 2008 1:23 PM
That was an awesome speech. As someone said it doesn't whether he wins or not, what he is saying is right, whether he will be able to do it or not. For once it leaves me with a feeling that we have someone who is not just another politician running for office, but someone who has an ideal to go with it.
Way to go Obama!
Posted by Vijay | January 21, 2008 1:49 PM
Thank you Joe. Senator Obama's speech was terrific! I am most proud to have been part of Senator Obama's historic campaign here in the state of Iowa, and I continue to hope that what started here on that cold January night 2008, ends with the Inaugural Address in January 2009!
Posted by IowanforObama | January 21, 2008 4:09 PM
PS:Hope is an action word! Hop to it America!
Posted by IowanforObama | January 21, 2008 4:26 PM
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بلوتوث - -
مقاطع بلوتوث - -
يوتيوب - -
مقاطع يوتيوب - -
فديو يوتيوب - -
فيديو يوتيوب - -
افلام - -
موقع يوتيوب - -
youtube.com - -
يوتيوب عربي - -
منتديات - -
مسنجر - -
مدونة - -
العاب بنات - -
العاب باربي - -
Mzaeen’s Weblog - -
يوتيوب - فيديو - بلوتوث - -
تحميل افلام - -
تحميل افلام
تحميل افلام
افلام
افلام
مشاهده افلام
تحميل افلام - مشاهده افلام
افلام - تحميل افلام - مشاهده افلام
مركز تحميل - -
تحميل - -
تحميل صور - -
تحميل ملفات - -
مركز التحميل - -
صور - -
العاب لعب العب - -
لعب - -
العاب - -
لعب العب - -
hguf - -
العب - -
67 - - -p-2 - - افلام انمي - - صور انمي - -
صور الأنمي - - خلفيات انمي - - انمي بنات حزينة - -
صور بنات انمي - - انمي بنات رومنسية - -
انمي حزينة - - صور بنات انمي - - اجمل بنات انمي - -
زفاف انمي - - زفاف عرايس - - انمي اطفال - -
بنات انمي رومنسي - - صور انمي حزينه - - صور الجاسوسات - -
صور انمي 2008 - - صور بنات حلوات - -
شباب انمي - - صور انمي - -
صور احلى بنات - - بنات انمي رومنسي - -
انمي رومنسي - - انمي رومنسي حلوة - -
صور انمي احضان - - افلام كرتون - - افلام انمي - -
انمي خليجي - - مسلسلات كرتون - - افلام انمي - - صور انمي - - 68 - -
68-p-2 - - سياحة وسفر - -
سياحة - -سفر - -فنادق - -
46 - -46-p-3 - -46-p-6 - -
ناطحات سحاب - -أفضل 10 مدن - -
مدينة الحب الفرنسيه - -فندق الحب - -
صور - -24 - -34-p-3 - -
34-p-6 - - - -34-p-13 - -
34-p-15 - -34-p-20 - -
34-p-25 - -34-p-29 - -
34-p-30 - -34-p-35 - -34-p-38 - -
34-p-40 - -صور جيملات العرب - -صور طبيعية - -صور متحركة - -صور بنات - -صور رومنسية - -صور اطفال - -صور رومانسية - -
صور قلوب - -صور قلوب حب - -
صور قلوب رومانسية - -ورود وزهور - -
زهور - -صورة الغروب - -
سوالف بنات - -صور حب - -صور حب رومانسية - -
صور حب 2008 - -صور قلوب - -
قلوب روعة - -صور قلوب رومانسية - -
صور حزينة - -صور متحركة - -
صور متحركه منوعة - -صور حب - -
صور خلفيات - -خلفيات رومانسية - -
صور انهار - -صور شلالات - -
صور مصرقعه - -جنس ثالث - -
صور جنس ثالث - -صور حزينة - -
صور شلالات وانهار - -صور جميلة - -صور غريبه - -
صور رومنسية - -صورطبيعة - -صور السعودية - -
صور الورد - -صور وتعليقات - -صور مضحكة - -
شموع - -صور حلوة - -
احلى عروس - -صور رعب - -24 - -24-p-3 - -
24-p-5 - -24-p-8 - -فوتوشوب - -
تصاميم - -صور تصاميم - - صور تصاميم رومانسية - -
صور قلوب - -صور تصميم - -صور تصميم رومنسية - -
صور عيون - -صور دباديب - -بطاقات رومانسية - -
صور تصميم شباب - -صور بنات للتصاميم - -صور بنات - -
صور رومانسيه حزينه - -صور نسائية - -صور نسائية روعة - -
صور رجال - -صور احترافية - -59 - -
58 - -ملحقات التصميم - -دروس التصميم - -
جميلات العرب - -اليسا - -
صور طبيعية - -صور قلوب - -
صور رومنسية - -بلوتوث مزايين - - البوم صور مزايين - -
صور ماسنجر - -وسائط - -
صور حب - -صور بنات - -صور بنات للمسن - -
العاب مكياج و ميك اب - - العاب ازياء - - العاب مغامرات - -
العاب بنات - - العاب تلبيس بنات - - العاب باربي - -
العاب بلياردو - - العب - - العاب - -
1 - -2 - -3 - -4 - -5 - -6 - -7 - -
13 - -14 - -8 - -15 - -10 - -21 - -30 - -
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42 - -43 - -44 - -45 - -46 - -47 - -58 - -
53 - -54 - -48 - -55 - -56 - -49 - -57 - -
50 - -59 - -60 - -51 - -61 - -62 - -52 - -
11 - -12 - -63 - -64 - -
المنتدى العام - - مواضيع ساخنة ومثيرة - - ترجمة - -
ازياء - - موضة - - فساتين - -
مكياج - - ميك اب - - اكسسوارات - - ديكور - - غرف نوم - -
اثاث - - طبخ - - مطبخ - - حلويات - - اكلات - - معجنات - - تغذية - - صحة - - طب - -
شعر - - قصايد - - خواطر - - عذب الكلام - -
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افلام عربية و مسلسلات - - مسلسلات اجنبية تلفزيونية - - افلام عربية و افلام اجنبية و مسلسلات تلفزيونية - - برامج كمبيوتر - - فوتوشوب - - ثيمات - العاب الجوال - خلفيات - - برامج نوكيا - نغمات - برامج جوال - - رسائل جوال - مسجات - رسايل وسائط - sms - - مسنجر - برامج ماسنجر - توبيكات - - دروس التصميم - -
ملحقات التصميم - - بلوتوث - -
-
برامج نوكيا - - -كورة - - -صور - - -
مسنجر - - - طرب - - -
العاب - - -
قصص - - - مكياج - - - موضة - -
- ديكور - -
- وسائط - -
- برامج - -
-افلام - - -
مقاطع فيديو - - -
مواضيع ساخنة - - -ثيمات
جوال - - -نغمات - - -
افلام انمي - - -خواطر - - -
العاب جوال - - -افلام
عربية - - -ازياء - - - صور
انمي - - -
سياحة - - -مسلسلات اجنبية - - -
شعر - - -اناشيد - - -
توبيكات - - -رسائل
جوال - --تصاميم -
شات
شات الرياض
بنت حواء
بنت نجد
عروسة
عروس
العاب شمس
صور رومنسيه
صور جميلة
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صور رومنسيه
صور جميلة
احلى رومانسيه
67
-p-2
توبيكات
مسنجر
برامج ماسنجر
توبيكات ملونة
- توبيكات -
توبيك -
صور ماسنجر -
مقالب للماسنجر
- ماسنجر بلس
- صور قلوب ماسنجر
- صور ماسنجر
رومنسيه - صور
للماسنجر -
أحلى توبيكات -
رموز للماسنجر
- توبيكات ملونه
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- صور بنات
للمسن - صور
بنوتيه - صور
مسنجر -
توبيكات حب -
توبيكات حب وغرام -
توبيكات ملونه
للمسن - صور
بنات للماسنجر 2008 -
توبيكات شعر -
صور مسنجر اطفال
- توبيكات مصرقعة
- زخارف مسنجر
- سكربتات
للماسنجر -
اختصارات للماسنجر -
كلمات للمسن -
توبيكات مسلسل
سنوات الضياع -
صور مهند ونور
للمسن -
توبيكات روعة -
توبيكات رومانسية
ملونة - احلى
توبيكات للمسن -
توبيكات حزينة
- توبيكات
رومانسية ملونه مع صور -
صور قلوب رومانسية
للمسن - صور
بنات للمسن -
صور بنوتات للماسنجركلمات رومنسية عبارات رومانسية للمسن
بنات للمسن msn صور بنات رومنسية للمسن عذاب وحب للمسن توبيكات خيانة صور اليسا للمسنجر
صور فنانين للماسنجر احلى توبيكات رومنسية توبيكات روعة
جميلات العرب
اليسا
صور طبيعية
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صور رومنسية
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صور فنانين للماسنجر
صور بنات للمسن
صور مهند -
صور لميس -
صور توبا -
اغاني سنوات الضياع -
لحن اغنية سنوات الضياع -
فضايح استار اكاديمي -
سنوات الضياع -
مسلسل نور -
حلقات مسلسل نور التركي -
برامج نوكيا n73 -
مسلسل غزلان في غابة الذئاب -
لميس بطلة سنوات الضياع -
توبيكات ملونة بالصور -
توبيكات ملونة -
صور مهند مسنجر -
توبيكات حب -
ثيمات بنات -
ثيمات بنات رومنسيه -
توبيكات مسنجر -
توبكات مصرقعة -
توبيكات مسنجر ملونه -
توبيكات ماسنجر -
توبكات حب وعتاب للمسنجر -
توبيكات رومنسية -
توبيكات ماسنجر -
العاب نوكيا -
صور انهار -
ثيمات n80 -
صور وسائط -
مسجات اسلامية -
مسجات حب وغرام -
وسائط رومنسية -
فساتين 2008 -الازياء
-
فساتين سهرة -
فساتين -
تسرحيات -
صور بنوتات انمي -
ديكورات -
توم وجيري -
قصات شعر -
طيور الجنة -
اناشيد -
اثاث -
انمي -
اثاث - قصور -
قصات2008 -
تسريحات عرايس 2008 -
صور بنات -
العاب بنات -
جميلات العرب -
صور انمي -
فيديو كليب -
صور رومانسية -
صور تصميم -
صور للماسنجر -
ديكورات -
توبيك -
افلام كرتون -
اناشيد طيور الجنه -
صور حب -
صور للمسن -
تسريحات شعر -
يوتيوب -
افلام انمي -
صور قلوب -
صور انمي
-
صور اطفال للماسنجر -
صور باربي -
صور بنات للتصاميم -
نور ومهند -
رموز للماسنجر -
صور خلفيات رومانسية -
صور تصاميم -
توبيكات -
فساتين زفاف -
غرف نوم -
ديكورات روعه -
تلبيس بنات -
تلبيس الجاسوسات -
صور الجاسوسات -
الجاسوسات الثلاث -
صور انمي حزينه -
اجمل بنات -
أزياء بنات -
موضة 2008 -
موديلات فساتين -
اثاث جديد 2008 -
ميك اب -
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صور انمي -
صور انمي 2008 -
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قلوب حب - صور زفاف عرايس -صور انمي بنات رومانسية -
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ثيم مهند وهو حاضن نور -
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ازياء موضة فساتين
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ملحقات التصميم بلوتوث
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برامج نوكيا -كورة -صور -
مسنجر - طرب -