Tuesday, Jul. 27, 2004
O-squared, posted at 10:03 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com It was the type of speech where I had to put the cat down, because I needed to applaud and the shivers down my body were too intense. It was compassionate, it was eloquent, it was powerful, it was masterful. I wished I had taped it for my students, because it was a piece of literature I could use alongside To Kill a Mockingbird. I'd love them to hear him say his line about "eradicat(ing) the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white."This part is so To Kill a Mockingbird: "A belief that we are connected as one people. If there's a child on the south side of Chicago who can't read, that matters to me, even if it's not my child. If there's a senior citizen somewhere who can't pay for her prescription and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it's not my grandmother. If there's an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of an attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It's that fundamental belief � I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper � that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family. 'E pluribus unum.' Out of many, one."
And this part is just amazingly powerful: "The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I've got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America."
Barack Obama could very well be the first black President of the United States. In 2016, an Obama/O'Malley ticket is not out of the question. O-squared.
But I'm off to donate to his campaign. I guess he's got to win his Illinois Senatorial bid before I get ahead of myself.
It's a bummer the networks didn't show tonight's speech, because I really feel like it was historic. The speech is available here, if you missed it: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/vote2004/demconvention/speeches/obama.html.