Brak Obama!
 

I think he gave an awesome speech tonight. I have never heard of him until tonight. Ya'll in Illinois is how has he been as a State Senator and a Candidate for the US Senate?

He's given that speech about 200 times now.

-Rudey

Hawai`i born and raised on Sandy Beach/Manoa Falls/plate lunches and shave ice, Punahou School-bred, it's no surprise he is the way he is. :)

I enjoyed his speech tonight. If you didn't know who he was before, I'm sure you know now!

Looks like Barack's gonna be going places... I think he'll do good in the Senate.

I didn't think his speech was unique, but I was feeling his cadence and eloquence. Reminds me (vocally) of MLK without the southern accent.

I liked him.

I agree his speech might not have been "unique", but I don't think the wants and desires of Americans are unique either. And I think that's what he was expressing. I loved him and can't wait to see where he goes in the future.

I saw Hillary after his speech and I could see the wheels turning "Hmm, if we don't win it this year, he's a potential running mate in '08...." Can you imagine? A female and a black man on the same ticket?! I really hope I see a day where that doesn't sound so remarkable...:)

Barack Obama ROCKS!! And he WILL be the next Senator of Illinois!! We are having a fundraiser for him in August, if anyone is in the Chicagoland area and wants to attend, PM me.

What is so great about him?

He's a good speaker? I got that. What else am I missing?

I honestly believe he means what he says. He will voice his concerns and work to make changes. He's very personable (I've had the opportunity to speak with him at a debate) and involved in his community. And he has the ability to reach out to ALL communities. Which is important for people, especially in Chicago. Reminds us of Harold Washington.

So he's convincing, eloquent, speaks well and is very charismatic. I was asking about substance, not presentation.

As Americans, I think we get too caught up in the way people speak/look on TV and really don't pay attention to what matters. I listened to his speach last night and really didn't hear anything earth shaking or different from what anyone else had been saying.

So he's for education. Wow. Ground shaking.

A Democrat for a public health system. Great. Let's redistribute some more wealth. Take from the rich and give to the poor.

He's also for more jobs.

Like I said.. nothing ground shaking.

So what is your point? You do not live in Illinois so you will not be voting for him.

My point is that people are caught up in his charisma and care very little about his substance. I can think of another great speaker off hand... Adolf Hitler. I'm not saying that they are similar in any way. My point is that people should really try to look past someone's charismatic facade and see the candidate for who they really are.

So far, everything I've heard anyone say about him is addressing his charisma, how they think he's telling the truth, etc... no one addresses his message. Now that you've shown me his site, I don't really see much of a message at all.

Are you saying that I can't have an opinion because I don't live in Illinois?

Personally, I'm tired of people trying to downplay Barack. I guess that's the con of being on top of your game. People will find ANY and EVERY thing wrong with you to try to bring you down. Same thing with Harold Washington and he was perhaps the best Mayor Chicago will ever see.

I find a LOT of substance in his plan of action for the state of illinois. Sorry, I cannot give it to you verbatim. I have seen him debate with other canidates and he is just what our state and country need.

My comment about you not living in Illinois means that since you don't see anything spectacular about him you don't have to voting for or against him.

You can have an opinion, but in this case, it doesn't count.

:)

Well, as Epitome said "he has the ability to reach out to ALL communities. Which is important for people". He's not running for Senate in my state, so I hadn't heard about him nor did I know anything about his ideas before hearing him speak last night. He doesn't even hold public office yet so we can't really expound on the great things he has done - we can only be hopeful for what he can acheive. I enjoyed him and he makes me excited for the future.

You don't like him or his party or his ideas. That's ground shaking, too. :rolleyes:

The page you showed me was just a platform that stated a few Democratic platform issues. Nothing of substance. Just BS from what I've seen so far.

I haven't said there's anything wrong with him. Please don't get me wrong. I'm just trying to see what makes him so special that he's the Democratic keynote speaker. He's a relatively new face to the party. I thought his speach was relatively entertaining, but so what?

I'm glad you see the substance in him though. I will tell you that most people don't. These days, folks are elected more on charisma and a great smile than they are on real issues. I think the major networks starting to show less and less of politicians will be a big help in that area actually.

Well I strongly suggest that anyone who is interested in learning more about Barack visit his website. On there you will learn more about his background and what he HAS done as representative of the 13th district in Chicago as well as chairman of Public Health and Welfare committee. He is a man of substance and vision.

obamaforillinois.com


My name is Epitome and I approve this message! OBAMA IN '04!

He is a member of the State of Illinois State Senate, a public office. I think his education and public service experience is outstanding.

When I listened to him last night, I was overwhelmed. I think he is definitely someone to watch for future great things...including an elected position at the highest levels.

As I am sure you know, control of the Senate is important for either party. Osoma gained 54% of the vote in a 6 person field during the Democratic primary. No one expected him to do that, especially when one of his opponents, according to an interview with him on PBS, spent 30M of his own money on the campaign. Pundits have also stated that his campaign crossed many historical boundaries in Illinois like "down state" vs. "upstate" (I have no idea what that means), racial (he carried many majority white districts) and urban vs. suburban. Evidently, because of his style and substance (after however many years in the State Senate) Dems think he a face to watch, so they put him out front. Plus, since he was practically given a gift by freaky deaky Ryan he will probably be the next Senator from the great state of Illinois.

Let's be honest, how much real substance do you see at political conventions anyway? They are now more coronations than anything else and a televised opportunity to excite the faithful and hopefully sway those on the fence. Plus, conventions are about trotting out different looks/backgrounds to say "see how we cover the REAL America!" Note the Islamic Iman that gave the benediction last night, the Muslim woman who lost her daughter (I think) in 9/11 from the other night, the guy in the wheelchair (sorry I don't remember his name). I expect the Republicans to do the same thing. As I recall, they had several no-name African Americans speak at the last convention to highlight their inclusiveness.

Finally, let's not dismiss the power of articulating a compelling message. Ronald Regan was called the Great Communicator after all and I dare say he was as popular as he was because he was able to make many people feel good about being Americans.

I grant to you that the conventions have lost all real importance. The platform has been written by anonymous consultants long before the convention starts up. It's more like a rock concert/networking opportunity than anything else.

It's frustrating to see everyone getting sidetracked with presentation and charisma when the issues are so damned important.

The Democrats have a pretty fine chance of picking up a Senate seat here in Oklahoma as well. There is probably a 2:1 ratio of Democrats that vote in this state over Republicans. Strangely, we usually elect Republican Reps and Senators. Last night's primary had around 250K people vote for the Dem primary that was a foregone conclusion anyhow where the hotly contested Rep. primary probably only had 150K voters. If people vote along party lines, the Dems can definitely chalk up another seat here.

An interesting note though, Dr. Tom Coburn, the Republican Candidate is a Sigma Nu from Oklahoma State :D



As for the no-name AA's speaking at the Republican convention, at least these no-names have important real positions within their party (e.g. secretary of state) -- the Dems can't claim that :D

When I said no-names I was not speaking of Powell or Rice. There were others as well. Their names, of course, are just a distant memory now.

I don't think everyone is getting sidetracked. He spoke--broadly of course-- (how much time did he have?? 10 - 15 minutes??) in themes. Presidents do this when they give their state of the union address as well. Have you ever watched a senate congressional hearing or read a bill that is up for vote? That's the substance, and I can tell ya, for most people it makes pretty dull TV. The networks do all of the behind the scenes looks, trot out all of the commentators to make it interesting for most people. It's not a Dem or a Repub thing. It's an American thing.

I've herd clips on BBC. Man, this is one charismatic man.

Only his dad is black. Could he be the next Tiger Woods??

-Rudey

Not only black, but also an immigrant from Kenya. His education credential is very impressive.

BA- Colombia
JD - Harvard
President of the Harvard Law Review

Eh...the immigrant and black thing is barely anything worthy of writing about.

The Harvard law review was the only thing worthy.

Is he smart? Yes.

Are smart guys the ones that dominate politics? Not really.

In terms of Chicago I find it funny that a guy who has made the securities industry what it is today ran against a powerful investment banker who left to teach at a south side black school and against a lawyer with teaching experience at UChicago.

-Rudey
--His joke about his name is the most annoying and old joke now

In that case, he wouldn't be eligible to be Vice President, would he? Or could he run, but in an emergency, be passed over for the Presidency?

ROTFL!!!!!

His Bio here says he was born in Hawai'i. http://www.legis.state.il.us/Senate/...p?MemberID=747

His dad is the one who is an immigrant.

Yes. Barak/Brak/he who can't stick to one spelling of his name has his own experiences but the difficult life of an immigrant was not something he experienced and I venture to say his experience with skin color was different than that of a full African-American, hence the reference to Tiger Woods. But I assume people will accept an identity if it suits them.

And he also spent some time in Indonesia as well as Hawaii.

-Rudey
--Smart maybe, but really let's not all fall under the magic spell.

I'm confused, Tiger Woods doesn't consider himself African American.

I agree that smart guys rarely get the vote. One thing I'm impressed, for the brief clips that I saw, is he is charismatic, smart and his method of communication is very down to earth. If he keep himself out of the vices of politics (drugs, sexs and corruption), he will go very far.

ETA: Isn't funny that politics and rock stars' lifestyle are pretty much the same. DIfference is that the some politicians are in a moral crusade, and the rock stars are enjoying their life.

Because it doesn't suit him. In the future who knows?

Michael Jackson didn't either at one point, but now he's got the Nation of Islam shacking up in his place and goes around telling everyone he got screwed because of being black, while the black community goes "Damn, I'm not exactly sure I want anything to do with Jackson."

-Rudey

The Secretary of State is Black???

WOW! Must be nice to pick and choose when you want to be Black, lol. And you know Michael is a BAD example. That man has problems that go far beyond race,lol.

Just out of curiosity, how does Tiger define himself? Multi-cultural?

Cablasian?? Confused?? you pick one.

My apologies - I guess I was thinking National level... :)

hah see you don't even want to touch the Jackson issue. I also knew kids who were Filipino and all of a sudden became hispanic when applying to college.

-Rudey
--Yeah...must be nice lol